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NEW STUDY FINDS FAULT WITH FAST TRACK Amy Frykman Northern Plains Resource Council
Economic Policy Institute Study Shows NAFTA Has Hurt Farmers And Ranchers Farmers have Been “Exported to Death,” Study Concludes
Billings--On the eve of a crucial trade vote in Congress, the Northern Plains Resource Council released an economic study demonstrating that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has hurt family farmers and ranchers. “Trading Away U.S. Farms,” a study conducted by Economic Policy Institute, chronicles a litany of adverse impacts that NAFTA has had on U.S. family farmers and ranchers and urges defeat of pending Fast Track trade legislation, which is scheduled for a vote in Congress tomorrow. “Fast track supporters have claimed that trade arrangements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the WTO, permanent normal trade relations for China, and the proposed FTAA are good for U.S. agriculture. But the current path is a dead end for American farmers, who have been exported to death in recent years, and it will lead to major problems for the U.S. trade agenda,” the report concludes.
Some of the highlights of the report are:
·The U.S. farm trade balance has fallen 57% in real terms, to $12.6 billion, from a peak of $29.5 billion in 1996. ·Prices for major commodities have fallen between 25% and 43%, and farm incomes have plummeted. ·Were it not for a 200% increase in federal farm payments, most family farmers would have been forced out of business by these colossal failures. Yet even with these payments, more than 72,000 family farms disappeared between 1993 and 1999.
“Clearly, these trade agreements have not delivered prosperity to U.S. farmers,” said Gilles Stockton, a rancher from Grass range, and Chairman of the Northern Plains’ Agriculture Task Force. The Bush Administration and the House Republican Leadership has scheduled a vote on “Fast Track” trade negotiating authority for December 6. President Bush claims that Fast Track is necessary to secure approval of new trade agreements like the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would expand the liberal trade rules of NAFTA to 31 additional countries in Central and South America. Opponents of Fast Track counter that the legislation will restrict congressional debate on new trade agreements, eliminate public hearings on trade agreements before key congressional committees, and prohibit amendments. “President Bush-just like President Clinton before him-wants Congress to abdicate its constitutional obligation to scrutinize foreign trade agreements,” said Stockton. “But this study clearly demonstrates that these trade agreements need more public debate, not less.” Despite claims that Fast Track is necessary to pass key trade agreements, since it was created in 1974, Fast Track has been used only five times. President Clinton signed more than 300 trade agreements without Fast Track. Congress recently passed the Jordan and Vietnam trade agreements, which were negotiated without Fast Track. Northern Plains has forwarded the study to Montana’s Congressional delegation and are urging people to call Representative Rehberg, and Senators Baucus and Burns with their concerns. “We hope our Senators will review the findings of this study that adds to the mounting evidence that the NAFTA model has failed America’s family farmers and ranchers and has hurt Montana’s rural economy. We hope they will conclude, as we have, that we need more Congressional public debate about the wisdom of NAFTA expansion, not less.” Economists Robert E. Scott and Adam S. Hersh wrote the study for the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank that weeks to broaden the public debate Partisan think tank that seeks to broaden the public debate about strategies to achieve a prosperous and fair economy. The EPI study can be downloaded from Northern Plain’s website: www.northernplains.org
NPRC is a 30-year-old, grassroots, Montana citizens’ group dedicated to responsible stewardship of Montana’s air, land and water, and to preserving a sustainable system of family agriculture.
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