Washington
Fair Trade
Coalition
The Washington Fair Trade Coalition (WFTC) is a coalition of over 60 Washington labor, faith, environmental, farmer, and social justice groups that are committed to creating a fair, balanced, and sustainable global trading system.
News & Analysis
Here We Go Again: Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership Won’t Fix Anything
Article by David Korten Originally posted in YES! Magazine on April 13th, 2018. Current trade agreements are great at creating more billionaires, not so much at protecting the interests of workers. On Thursday, President Trump flipped his position on the Trans-Pacific...
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Join us in demanding a better NAFTA: Organizational Sign On Letter
Trade agreements like NAFTA set rules for the global economy, with significant impacts on jobs and wages, the environment, human rights, food safety, access to medicine, and more. Right now, corporate lobby groups have united in a major campaign pushing for the NAFTA...
read moreAwesome statement from the AFL-CIO on tariffs and trade policy.
"The labor movement totally opposes the idea that we must choose between corporate-dominated trade rules on the one hand and racism and economic isolation on the other hand. Neither choice is remotely acceptable."
Read the full statement here: aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/tariffs-and-trade-are-means-not-end
Tariffs and Trade Are a Means, Not an End | AFL-CIO
aflcio.org
Judiciously used, tariffs are one way to address unfair trade, but it is critical to recognize that tariffs are merely a tool, not a comprehensive plan for trade reform.www.businessinsider.com/chinese-factory-says-its-making-flags-for-trump-2020-campaign-2018-7
businessinsider.com
Before shifting to flags, the factory used to make red scarves for China's communist youth group. The factory now produces 100,000 flags a day.On Saturday we stood in solidarity with others at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac to protest the Zero Tolerance immigration policy.
Free trade has historically been a driver of migration between countries. As we enact global policy that makes it easier to move products and business across borders, we should revisit the guidelines that allow people to cross borders too.
#FamiliesBelongTogether #KeepFamiliesTogether #ReplaceNAFTA
For more on trade and migration: www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/trade-issues/trade-and-migratio/
This is really helpful framing for the immigration conversation. To fix our immigration policy we will have to take close looks at the ways our foreign policy and trade policy have hurt our neighbors.
"These are families whose livelihoods have been destroyed by decades of failed economic policies led by the United States — and the local elites of those countries — making their home countries dangerous and unlivable. Unfettered free trade agreements, along with privatization of public services, are at the center of the issue. Today's immigration crisis started twenty-four years ago with #NAFTA and the flooding of cheap U.S. corn and other basic food staples into the Mexican economy. What we are seeing today at the border is a very small tip of an enormous iceberg that has been there beneath the surface for more than three decades."
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders
How has failed U.S. economic policy contributed to families seeking asylum at the border?
Check out this must-read from our friends at the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign!
portlandtribune.com/pt/10-opinion/397438-290682-my-vew-nafta-needs-more-than-skinny-rewrite-
My Vew: NAFTA needs more than 'skinny' rewrite
portlandtribune.com
Our economy has lost the good jobs while the Mexican economy has created jobs of hyperexploitation, caused by ease of corporations' using Mexico as a low-cost, low-regulation environment for assembly of products that are bound for richer countries.Current Campaign
Free Trade Facts
The Impact Of Free Trade Policy In Washington State
Manufacturing Jobs Lost in Washington State
Jobs Lost due to the Rising Trade Deficit With Mexico
Current Free Trade policy has proven to be a losing battle for workers, farmers, and communities in WA State and around the world.
Why Should I Care?
- Mexican farmers unable to compete with cheaper American
corn lose their land and migrate to cities to find work in maquilladoras
(sweatshops) or to the US and WA State as farm workers
- 65,193 workers were certified under Trade Adjustment Assistance
1994-2011 as directly losing their job because of US trade policy (US DoL statistics).
positions associated with these jobs such as drivers, suppliers and
small businesses do not qualify and are not counted.
- Mexican farmers unable to compete with cheaper American
corn lose their land and migrate to cities to find work in maquilladoras (sweatshops) or to the US and WA State as farm workers
Fair Trade
Not Free Trade
What Would It Look Like?
For too long, U.S. trade policy has benefited transnational corporations at the expense of workers’ rights, consumer safety and the environment at home and abroad. The Washington Fair Trade Coalition, working with local, national, and international partners, aims to build a new model of trade, a model that supports our communities and our world. What could that look like?
