Congress approves Singapore and Chile Free Trade Agreements

New American, The, August 25, 2003

In his June 30th article, "Trading Away Jobs and Liberty," this magazine's William F. Jasper warned that the Singapore and Chile Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are only the first in a series of FTAs being negotiated by the Bush administration. Next in the pipeline are bilateral FTAs with Morocco and Australia, as well as two regional FTAs, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the South Africa Customs Union Free Trade Agreement. Then there is the biggest of the regional FTAs, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), involving the entire Western Hemisphere and scheduled for completion by 2005.

Congress speedily approved the Singapore and Chile FTAs by large margins in July. Though Congress is allowed 90 days to consider trade agreements under the fast-track rules of Bush's Trade Promotion Authority, these two FTAs were polished off in a mere 21 days. The House approved the Singapore and Chile FTAs on July 24th by 272 to 155 and 270 to 156, respectively. The Senate approved the two FTAs on July 31st by 66 to 32 and 66 to 31.

In "Trading Away Jobs and Liberty," Mr. Jasper warned: "If we allow these agreements to be adopted and implemented, the United States will be headed on the fast track to self-demolition and oblivion, from world superpower to Third World has-been, a mere cog in the new one-world imperium." The speedy adoption of the first two stepping stones on the path to the sovereignty-destroying FTAA indicates just how little resistance the power elite is encountering.