Fact-Checking the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

By David Sirota

April 3rd, 2008 - 1:58pm ET


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is in a tizzy over my post yesterday about the corporate-written Colombia trade deal that it is trying to ram through Congress over the deep opposition of the American public. The Chamber purports to "fact check" my post, so let's do some fact-checking of the fact-checking - just to show you how corrupt these people are.

CLAIM: The world's population loves our current trade policy.

The Chamber says it isn't true that free trade is unpopular in many Latin American countries and the developing world in general.

FACT: Free trade is unpopular in many Latin American countries and the developing world in general.

Here's the gold-standard: The 2008 BBC World Service Poll of 34,500 people. It reports: "In 22 out of 34 countries around the world, the weight of opinion is that 'economic globalization, including trade and investment,' is growing too quickly." Looking country-to-country on page 9, you find large segments of the developing world unhappy with the current NAFTA-style trade model epitomized by the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. That includes majorities or pluralities not only in places like Chile and Argentina, but in Africa and Asia. And, of course, there is this from the Los Angeles Times - with "market economics" (as usual) being the euphemism for "free trade":

"Trust in market economics is declining, according to a poll released in November by Latinobarametro, a Chilean opinion research firm. Millions are frustrated that privatization and falling trade barriers have done little to mitigate income inequality. Survey respondents in Central America were particularly downbeat, despite that region's recent embrace of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which includes the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. In a separate 2007 opinion poll, Mexicans said they disapproved of NAFTA by 2 to 1, according to the Mexico City-based polling firm Mund Americas."

CLAIM: Because legislators vote for something, it means the public supports it.

The Chamber claims that NAFTA-style trade deals that throw farmers off their land, privatize social services and inflate medicine prices in the developing world are wildly popular among the masses in the developing world. The proof? "Over the past four years, democratically-elected legislatures in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Peru all approved trade agreements with the United States with more than 85% of legislators voting in favor."
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/fact-checking-us-chamber-commerce

31-mar-2008
Anti-Free Trade Agreement Summit in Mexico City

April 4-6 the "Segundo Encuentro Continental en contra de los TLC" (2nd Continental Summit Against Free Trade Agreements) will be held in Mexico City. Details about the event can be found at www.encuentrocontinental.org or segundoencuentrocontinental@gmail.com.

Delegations of youth, workers, unions and other representatives from Mexico, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and other countries will attend.

Working groups include:

- FTAs and the countryside
- FTAs and sovereignty, war and peace
- FTAs and immigration
- FTAs, energy and public services

There will be a press conference on April 1 to announce the events as well. Let us know if youll be attending and maybe we can meet there.

http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2008/03/anti-free-trade-agreement-summit-in.html