ORFTC Campaigns
The TRADE Act
Korea Free Trade Agreement
President Obama recently announce plans to push ahead with the Korea Free Trade Agreement immediately after the November 2010 elections. This Bush-negotiated pact is the biggest free trade agreement since NAFTA itself. If passed, it will accelerate the offshoring of Oregon jobs, expose the state's environmental laws to new forms of attack and prohibit the type of banking regulations needed to head off the next financial crisis. Learn more about this extremely dangerous trade proposal and what you can do to help send it back to the drawing board by clicking here.
Trans-Pacific Partnership
As trade negotiators representing the United States and seven other Pacific Rim nations met in San Francisco in June 2010 for a week of talks about a new "Trans-Pacific Partnership" (TPP) trade pact, the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign was present to urge the U.S. delegation as an opportunity to advance President Obama's campaign pledges on trade reform. Click here for a copy of our public comments on the TPP.
Panama Free Trade Agreement
In early 2009, the U.S. Trade Representative expressed interest in moving forward with the Panama FTA -- a trade deal negotiated by the Bush administration that repeats many of the same problems found in NAFTA and CAFTA. The Panama FTA represents business-as-usual on trade, rather than the change promised by President Obama.
In addition to the problems with NAFTA-style investor rights, procurement, agricultural, intellectual property and food safety provisions, and weak labor and environmental standards, Panama's status as a known tax haven raises extra cause for concern. Panamanian banking secrecy laws enable businesses to establish subsidiaries there with the purpose of evading U.S. taxes, and also aids in laundering money from drug cartels.
We stopped the Panama FTA from moving forward in 2009 — but that doesn't mean it's stopped for good. Learn more about this Bush trade agreement and what you can do to stop it by clicking here.
Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Thanks to everyone who has taken action to oppose the Colombia FTA! In 2008, we generated a huge number of calls and emails into Congressional offices on very short notice. As a result, Oregon Congressmen David Wu, Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer and Jeff Merkley all publicly announced their opposition to the FTA and national Congressional leaders took the unprecedented step of pushing through a rule change that stopped the 90-day "Fast Track" clock under which the pact was being considered. This is a sign of our strength!
As important as the successful rule change was, however, it does not mean that the Colombia FTA has been defeated. While the Colombia FTA is unlikely to move soon, it has not been taken off the table completely and could rear its head again in late 2009 or beyond. Learn more about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and what steps you can take to help defeat it once-and-for-all by clicking here.
Most Oregonians know about the devastating impact that free trade agreements have had in this state -- what's less known is the destructive role that these policies have played in neighboring countries, and their connection to forced migration. Learn more about this important topic by clicking here.
Fast Track is the policymaking procedure that allowed trade agreements to be rushed through Congress without ordinary review, amendment and debate. It resulted in some of the most damaging trade policies of our lifetimes. Learn more by clicking here.