Nearly Half of Costa Rica Voters Reject CAFTA

by via James Parks, AFL-CIO

Wed, Oct 10, 2007 6:42AM

The people of Costa Rica on Sunday became the first ever to vote on whether they want a trade deal with the United States. The pundits who predicted a sweeping victory for supporters of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) were proven wrong. Despite huge sums spent by the pro-CAFTA forces, the referendum for the trade deal passed by a narrow margin—51.48 percent to 48.42 percent.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Ambassador Mark Langdale made statements implying that if the people of Costa Rica reject the trade agreement, the Bush administration might withdraw preferred trade status from Costa Rica. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wrote letters making it clear that the two issues are not related.

Costa Rica is the only one of the seven signers that has not ratified the deal, which is modeled after the seriously flawed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), NAFTA has failed workers in Mexico, Canada and the United States:

In each nation, while workers’ productivity grew, workers’ salaries remained stagnant or dropped and the wealth of those at the top increased significantly
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For more information: http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/10/09/nearly-h...

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