Act Now to Stop an Appalling CAFTA, FTAA Sneak Attack

Heads Up: You Must Act Now to Stop an Appalling CAFTA, FTAA Sneak Attack on State Purchasing Policy!

A leaked letter from the Bush Administration to state governors
reveals
a sneaky attempt now underway to get governors to 'voluntarily'
commit their states to comply with draconian constraints on domestic
procurement (purchasing) policy included in the recently completed
CAFTA
and proposed for FTAA. Unbelievably, the leaked documents show that
the
U.S. Trade Representative's Office is seeking blanket permission from
governors to sign states on to the procurement provisions of ALL trade
agreements under negotiation - including the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA),
the
South African Customs Union and a raft of bilateral deals with
Australia, Morocco, Columbia, Thailand and more nations.

The recently-released CAFTA text lists 23 states as having agreed to
'sign on' to that pact's procurement rules. When a state is
listed, all cities and counties within that state are covered as well,
despite the fact that neither state legislators, mayors nor city
councils have been apprised of their new obligations - much less
agreed!
We'd bet anything that some of those state and local elected
officials and state attorneys general would have a few things to say
about this if they knew what their governors and the USTR and were up
to.

That's were you come in - making sure the state and local officials
know that some 'trade' rules negotiated behind closed doors without
their input much less their approval are about to permanently shut
down
their right and authority to halt off-shoring of state services,
require
living or prevailing wages in government contracts, or preferences for
recycled paper content, locally-grown food, locally-produced vehicles
and more.

The good news is that until there is a vote on one of these
agreements,
the states can pull their names off the list with no liability. But
once
Congress votes to approve a pact, getting a state OFF the list
requires
compensating trading partners for their lost opportunity - an
expensive and often unviable solution. The first pacts up for votes
and as soon as this spring are CAFTA (U.S., Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) and the U.S.-Australia Free Trade
Agreement. Yes, we know that if we all work hard we can defeat CAFTA
in
Congress and that would save progressive procurement policies from
being
ravaged by CAFTA - but the USTR's letter to governors requesting
their buy-in extends to ALL future agreements. And believe us, USTR
continues right now to court and to pressure governors of states that
have not yet done so to sign away state and local officials' rights.

There is plenty of treachery to go around. First, USTR has billed the
request to governors as an innocuous extension of the WTO's Agreement
on Government Procurement (AGP), claiming that signing up would simply
create opportunities for U.S. producers and service providers to
compete
for foreign contracts. As if! To start with, only some states signed
the
WTO's AGP and since then the AGP's track record includes the demise
of states' procurement policies aimed at avoiding business with the
Burmese dictatorship and pressuring Nigeria for better labor rights.
And, an analysis of the proposed pacts' rules reveal that at stake is
the ability to set policy - not just the right to compete for
contracts. But even state and local officials to whom a governor
might
have shown this letter (we have not found any such officials yet)
would
have no idea that at risk are:

--"Green" procurement policies requiring recycled content, fuel
efficient vehicles, or renewable energy;
--Preferences used to demand corporate responsibility in the face of
human rights abuses - such as those used to help bring an end to
apartheid in South Africa and now in place regarding Burma;
--'No off-shoring' and other local development policie
s aimed at
keeping state dollars paying in-state wages and giving preference to
locally-produced goods and services.

To make matters even worse, the process that USTR is using to seek
"consent" from the states is illegal. Setting government
procurement policy and deciding whether to cede to policy constraints
imposed by a trade agreement is within the realm of state legislatures
and city councils. Governors' whims - decisions often taken without
a basic understanding of what is at stake - cannot be allowed to
override the constitutional authority of state and local elected
officials. Yet if a state is listed when an agreement is approved by
Congress, that state becomes bound with no way to withdraw without
compensating other countries even if the initial sign-on process was
not
legal!

It's not too late to act! Until Congress votes in favor of a
specific pact, the list of 20-plus states whose governors appear to
have
already said yes to the sneaky USTR letter are not legally bound and
can
get taken off the list as easily as they got on. Plus, we need to
make
sure that no additional states 'sign on.' In addition, state and
city legislators must make it known that they demand prior informed
consent on all provisions of international trade agreements that
implicate state and local policy in order to stop future power grabs
of
state and local authority.

Take action!

Visit http://www.citizen.org/trade/cafta/articles.cfm?ID=11085 to see
whether or not your state is signed on to CAFTA's procurement
provisions. Then:

--Call your governor's office to inquire about your state's
response to the fall 2003 USTR's request for sign off on the new
generation of procurement agreements. Ask for documentation. If your
governor consented to be included, urge that she or he withdraw the
state from the list -- telling them that you know just how easy that
still is to do. If your state has not responded, ask the governor's
office to turn over the request to the legislature for their
consideration.

--Call your state attorney general's office, any and all state
legislators, city councilors and mayors you know to warn them warn
them
about the letter and ask them to contact the governor's office
immediately. Some states also have statewide procurement officers -
most of whom have no idea what their governors are up to but who will
be
well-informed about the implications.

--Communicate to the governor, state attorney general, legislators
etc.
and your friends and colleagues about your concerns regarding the
policy
constraints these 'trade' agreements' procurement rules impose and
specifically about what the CAFTA text reveals is at stake.

--Urge all of the state and local officials with whom you communicate
to demand a more democratic, inclusive mechanism for obtaining the
prior
informed consent of the state and local officials
constitutionally-charged with policy-making authority before state and
local authority is implicated - by the governor or the federal
government - in trade agreements.

Keep us informed about your results! Contact Sara Johnson at
sjohnson [at] citizen.org or (202) 454-5193 with any questions and to let
us know how things are going.


Sara Johnson
Subfederal Outreach Coordinator
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 454-5193

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