Small Farmers. Big Change.

The TRADE Act, one of the few positive trade bills to come before Congress in a long time, could be voted on ANY DAY now. Our friends at the American Friends Service Committee have sent out this alert. Please take a moment to call your representatives and ask them to cosponsor the bill. It’s truly one of the few times you can call IN SUPPORT of something that will really improve the livelihoods of people on both sides of the border, protect labor rights and the environment. How often do you get that opportunity? Please call today! Below, the AFSC does a great job of summarizing the bill’s key points and reasons to advocate for its passage.

Click here to see a web version of this alert or access background materials

TAKE ACTION: Change the future of trade policy!

Last year, with your support, over 80 members of the U.S. House and Senate cosponsored landmark legislation setting forth a progressive vision for future trade agreements.  The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act is a positive bill that outlines a trade agenda that will support livelihoods and development in both rich and poor countries.

Your help is needed now to urge your congressional members to once again cosponsor the 2009 TRADE Act.  This groundbreaking initiative will likely be reintroduced next week and it needs as many original cosponsors as possible.  The bill has already won the support of hundreds of faith, farm, labor and environmental groups.  The more cosponsors the TRADE Act has when reintroduced, the more momentum we will gain for a fair trade agenda. 

Background: 

The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act was first put forward in the 110^th session by Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Mike Michaud.  AFSC together with other faith-based organizations requested changes to that bill that reflect our values and Mr. Michaud’s office incorporated almost all of them!

With your help, the future of trade policy can be shaped today.

A Balanced Way to Expand Trade

• The TRADE Act maps out a fair path forward, explaining what we care about in a good agreement. 
  
• It lays out the blueprint for how we can fix the existing model, showing what a responsible pacts would look like, and the procedures needed to get us there.
  
• The bill shifts the debate towards discussing a new and improved globalization model.
  
• It moves beyond repeatedly fighting against expansions of failed policies, and sets a marker for where new discussion should start later this year.
  

Answering Failed Policies of the Past

• Pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Peru Free Trade Agreement have not met up to their basic promises. 
  
• These agreements should be serving a majority of people on issues such as wages, public health, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety and access to essential services. 
  
• Instead, these “free trade” policies have come at great costs.  The price we’ve paid in offshoring of jobs, downward pressure on wages, and damage to our environment and loss of family farms is far too great. 
  

The Purpose of the Trade Act

• This initiative sets forth what we are for – shutting down the bogus claim that we oppose trade or have no alternative vision because we oppose these old failed agreements of the past.
  
• This bill sets forth concrete ways to push our shared conviction that trade and investment are not ends unto themselves, but must also serve as a means for achieving greater societal goals.
  
• This bill also serves as a litmus test.  By seeing who cosponsors — and who does not — we know who our trade champions are in the future.
  

For more information, click here.

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