NewsFactor: "The U.S. trade deficit swelled to a record high of 48.3 billion dollars in April, the Commerce Department reported Monday. The increase reflected Americans' demand for foreign-made goods, especially cars, TVs, furniture and clothes, according to the report." Let's get this straight: First, US car, TV, furniture and clothing manufacturers ship jobs over seas, build plants in India, Indonesia, Mexico, et al. Next, they ship the foreign made goods back to the US - then blame the deficit on US consumers by accusing us of "demanding" foreign-made goods. Yep, that sounds like a Bush plan!

Nico Pitney: "Should anyone believe career free-marketeer John Kerry when he makes campaign pledges to reject trade pacts that lack strict and enforceable labor and environmental standards? Kerry will be able to show that there's substance behind his recent fair trade rhetoric when the Senate faces a vote to extend what's called the 'Africa Growth and Opportunity Act' (AGOA) sometime in the next several months. And though AGOA doesn't make a blip on the media radar (even in progressive circles), 'the pressure on Kerry to vote for AGOA will come from many quarters,' Jonathan Tasini observes, 'including the New Democratic members of the party.' The AGOA was 'highly sought after by the oil industry' and, according to Public Citizen, singles out Africa for 'imposition of harsh IMF-style domestic social and economic policy changes, budget cuts in health and education, privatization through divestiture of public assets, cuts in corporate taxes, etc. as a condition for U.S. trade relations.'"

A survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, one of the most comprehensive U.S. polls on trade issues, found that support for free trade fell in most income groups from 1999 to 2004, but dropped most rapidly among high-income respondents - the very group most likely to support free trade in the past. The PIPA poll shows that among Americans making more than $100,000 a year, support for actively promoting more free trade collapsed from 57% to less than half that, 28%. "This is huge," says Steven Kull, director of the Maryland polling unit. "What's most dramatic is what's happened to support among those making more than $70,000 a year. ... These include those who've most avidly supported trade and globalization, who've taken the lead in pushing the free-trade agenda forward."

AP: "The European Union sought to pressure the U.S. Congress into quickly changing its export subsidy laws by imposing sanctions Monday which could total $300 million in key industrial sectors by the end of the U.S. election year. The 15-nation EU said it had run out of patience with the United States for failing to repeal the Foreign Sales Corporation legislation two years after the tax breaks [$5 billion worth!] it offers to exporters were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization." The sanctions will hit an array of industries, ranging from jewelry to textiles and agricultural goods. Since the sanctions are gradual, they will increasingly hurt as time ticks down to congressional elections in November. "These tariffs will negatively impact jobs of American workers," said a letter to Congress from the United States Chamber of Commerce." But Bush has already proven he doesn't give a damn about workers!

"The economy has hemorrhaged 2.8 million manufacturing jobs since President Bush took office. And the Administration thinks that's just ducky. As the LA Times reported on yesterday's White House economic report with the headline, 'President Bush supports the shift of U.S. jobs overseas.' And this wasn't just one newspaper's characterization - it was the headline all over the country: the Seattle Times noted that the White House claims, 'Sending jobs overseas helps U.S.,' the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the 'Bush economic report praises 'outsourcing' jobs' and the Orlando Sentinel notes, 'Bush says sending jobs abroad can be beneficial.' The rationale, as explained by White House economist Gregory Mankiw, is that shipping jobs overseas is simply the 'latest manifestations of the gains from trade that economists have talked about.'" Dems need to pounce on this -- this is a gift to use for the elections!

Some suggestions from StopCAFTA.org: "(1) Contact Your Member of Congress. Never lobbied before? No problem. Download stopcafta's lobby kit created by the stopcafta coalition. (2) Organize Actions During Congressional Recess: April 5-16. A national week of action is being organized for Congress's April Recess. For ideas download stopcafta's organizing guide. For a list of local organizations visit our contact page. (3) Get Educated. To find out more about CAFTA download the Washington Office on Latin America's (WOLA) CAFTA briefing."

From Witness for Peace: "On December 17, the United States strong-armed Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala into signing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)... There were protests in all the cities of North and Central America where CAFTA talks were held, including daily protests here in Washington outside the Mayflower Hotel... Now come the battles in the legislatures of the US and C. America. Most analysts feel that the accord will be ratified in the Central American legislatures... That means it is up to us to stop the approval of CAFTA in our Congress. Analysts are saying that given NAFTA's miserable 10-year record, the election year, and strong concerns in Congress about specific parts of the agreement, it is going to be tough for the Bush administration to pass the CAFTA through Congress. If we do defeat CAFTA, it will be a huge victory for the fair trade movement and a major blow for 'free traders' who see CAFTA as their stepping stone to the FTAA."

"Steel workers and union leaders said Bush's decision to lift tariffs would undermine efforts to reshape the industry... 'They're basically being kicked right in the face now for all the hard work they've done, and I think it's a disgrace,' said Andy Miklos, 53, a heavy equipment operator and Local 1557 president at U.S. Steel-owned Clairton Coke Works, south of Pittsburgh. Workers and union leaders vowed to back the Democratic opposition in the 2004 presidential election. 'Our union will now work very hard to make sure George W. Bush joins the ranks of the unemployed next year,' said Mark Glyptis, president of the 3,000-member Independent Steelworkers Union... When Bush stopped in Pittsburgh, known as 'Steel City,' on Tuesday for a campaign fund-raiser, he was urged by the chairman and CEO of U.S. Steel Corp. to support the industry as steelworkers demonstrated outside." So Rove sent Bush out to raise bucks from tariff supporters -- to tantalize them with the impending decision.

AP reports: "Facing the threat of a trade war, Bush on Thursday lifted 20-month-old tariffs on foreign steel, a move that will hurt steelmakers in states critical in next year's election. Within minutes of the announcement, the 15-nation European Union announced in Brussels that it was lifting its threat of sanctions on $2.2 billion of U.S. products that would have taken effect in mid-December based on a ruling from the World Trade Organization that the tariffs violated global trade rules. 'These sanctions ... were there as a tool for compliance,' EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said. 'They've complied and the sanctions will disappear'... To soften the blow, the Bush administration announced a beefed-up monitoring program to guard against a sudden flood of foreign steel entering the country. However, lawmakers from steel states expressed disappointment at Bush's decision, charging that he had reneged on promises to help the steel industry and caved in to foreign pressure."

Reuters: "Supporters of U.S. steel tariffs mounted a last-ditch protest to keep the protections in place as President Bush raised campaign cash in the traditional heart of the American steel industry on Tuesday. Congressional and industry sources have said Bush was expected to announce a decision this week to lift the tariffs, which the World Trade Organization has ruled illegal. But steel industry supporters inside and outside the convention center where Bush spoke were urging him not to abandon the tariffs. The White House said Bush had not yet decided and was still listening to arguments. Bush made no comment on the issue during his remarks to the $850,000 reelection fund-raiser... Protesters shouted 'Don't cave in,' and one carried a sign warning of the political stakes for Bush, especially in the major campaign battleground state of Pennsylvania. 'Betray us now, lose in 2004,' one sign read."

Mark Engler writes: "In order to avoid the type of collapse experienced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun just a few months ago, the U.S. instead promoted a face-saving 'FTAA-Lite' that puts a sunshine spin on an impasse... But the global justice movement can also claim a fair part in halting the progress of the FTAA... Our movement, accustomed to warning against the dangers presented by 'NAFTA on steroids,' has been slow to take this message to heart. But if we do not applaud the failure of the FTAA talks, we risk aiding the administration's effort to spin its Florida defeat as a stride forward. The truth is that Governor Bush's optimism about FTAA-Lite belies a critical fact: This week in Miami, trade ministers ended their talks early because they had nothing to discuss. Protesters had earned a day in the sun. And more might have taken a celebratory trip to the beach, were it not for the police."

Kos writes, "How is Rove going to spin this. 'Speculation mounted on Friday that Washington will scrap or roll back controversial steel tariffs after it sought and obtained an effective delay in retaliatory sanctions by countries opposed to them. The World Trade Organization (WTO), which had been due to rubber-stamp the verdict of its highest court that the duties are illegal, has put off the key session for nine days at the request of the United States.' Whatever benefit the sanctions had given Bush in PA, WV, and OH will now be reversed two-fold, seen as a betrayal of the industry at the behest of those hated Europeans. Bush dodges costly sanctions in politically sensitive states like Florida, but he may have just contributed to losing the Rust Belt."

Associated Press: "Protesters showed videotape Wednesday of last week's trade talks in which police trampled a protester, shot rubber bullets at an attorney who had her back turned and chased away a demonstrator who had silently kneeled before them in prayer. The footage was taped by the Indy Media Center, which had about 30 journalists with video cameras, said Sara Kendall, one of the journalists... She said four of their broadcast-quality video cameras were confiscated or broken... The video showed a woman [who] identified herself to police as an attorney and said she was unarmed. When she turned her back to the police, she was shot in the back of the leg with a rubber bullet. Another time, as police opened fire on the protesters, she huddled beneath her sign for protection, but was still hit in the face. In another scene, police were moving forward in a line when a protester fell in front of them. His friend unsuccessfully tried to help him up as the police walked over him."

Naomi Klein writes, "What was striking about Miami was how divorced the security response was from anything resembling an actual threat. From an activist perspective, the protests were disappointingly small and almost embarrassingly obedient, an understandable response to weeks of police intimidation. Listening to the incessant roar of helicopters and the march of police boots, I couldn't shake the feeling that something new was going on. It felt less like we were the targets of this operation than the target practice, unwitting extras in an elaborate military drill. The FTAA Summit in Miami represents the official homecoming of the 'war on terror.' The latest tactical and propaganda techniques honed in Iraq -- from a Hollywoodized military to a militarized media -- have now been used on a grand scale in a major U.S. city. 'This should be a model for homeland defense,' Miami Mayor Manny Diaz proudly said of the security."

Miami Herald: "Miami police reneged on their promise to give safe passage to 25 busloads of seniors who attempted to attend Thursday's AFL-CIO rally against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the leader of a retired union workers group charged Tuesday. Tony Fansetta, president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, said 13 of the busloads were turned away and many of the others were diverted, forcing senior citizens to walk up to two miles to attend the permitted rally at Bayfront Amphitheater. Only five buses were allowed into the previously arranged drop-off point next to Bayside Marketplace, according to union officials. 'It is despicable when in good faith you have what is referred to as the greatest generation -- and I'm a Korean War veteran myself -- come down here in good faith and jump through every hoop the city of Miami asked us to jump through,' Fansetta said."

Miami Herald: "Early on Thursday morning, Bentley Killmon boarded a chartered bus to take him from Fort Myers to Miami so he could protest the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. The 71-year-old, retired airline pilot said he was amazed by the heavy police presence in downtown Miami when he arrived. Throughout the day, he said he watched police overreact to incidents. He saw a 53-year-old woman get shot in the chest with rubber bullets. He saw other peaceful protesters being gassed with pepper spray. He saw young people, who weren't doing anything illegal or improper, being pushed and harassed by cops. 'My father was in the Norfolk City Police Department for many years,' he said. 'Until Thursday, I respected the badge. I respected the job the police had to do. But I no longer respect the badge. Not in Miami. Not after what I saw. Not after what happened to me and others.'"

Ina Cordle of the Miami Herald writes: "When I arrived at the center of the massive protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas on Biscayne Boulevard last Thursday, I didn't know what to expect. I was excited to be in the middle of the action, and trying hard to take it all in. Thousands of union workers, environmental activists and other protesters filled the street. Hundreds of police in riot gear, standing side-by-side, created barricades to the north and south. A tank topped with armed police towered near the entrance to Bayfront Park. A lone protester walked silently in front of the line of police with a handwritten sign: 'Have you read 1984?' While I was there, the demonstrations were peaceful -- and more surreal, fun and fascinating than photos or TV images conveyed."

The UK Guardian reports: "George Bush will be served notice... that the deep hostility towards him in Britain has reached the Blair inner circle, when the former minister Stephen Byers launches a bid to destabilise the president's re-election campaign next year. On the eve of Mr Bush's state visit to Britain, Mr Byers, an arch-Blairite, ...set out proposals to help Democrats in key swing states if the White House refuses to abandon punitive trade sanctions against the UK. Acting with the tacit approval of Blair supporters, who were enraged when Mr Bush imposed tariffs on imports of British steel to shore up his vote, the former trade and industry secretary will call for sanctions to be imposed on four key marginal states which the president will need to win." Fascinating -- is Bush's call for US businesses to pull out of the UK in retaliation to Byers' plan? Or is it the other way around? Keep in mind that Bush started all this with the bullying by Irwin Stelzer.

Tom Hayden writes: "An ugly and bloodier ending to the Miami FTAA meeting was averted by a sudden decision tonight to end the closed official events one day early. FTAA co-chairs from the US and Brazil both described the summit as a step forward though it was widely understood that the agreement was far less than the American business community and the White House originally hoped for. At 5:30 pm, besieged protestors at the convergence center, threatened by the spectre of mass arrests, put out a televised appeal for public solidarity. At virtually the same moment, word came from within the FTAA meeting that an agreement had been reached. At 6:45, the agreement was announced at a press conference of all the trade ministers, and shortly afterwards the police encirclement of the convergence center seemed to be lifted."

From 2/11/03: "BUZZFLASH: And I'm not kidding when I tell you that we've gotten a slew of e-mails from BuzzFlash [that BushRove are] blackmailing [Tony Blair]. And it sounds ridiculous, but how do you explain [Blair] following the orders of George W. Bush? PALAST: You're getting warm. The answer is Irwin Stelzer. He is the guy who is a good friend of George Bush from the Hudson Institute, and the most powerful lobbyist in Britain representing British-American interests and, by the way, chief lobbyist for Rupert Murdoch. As soon as Bush seized the White House, Stelzer walked into Blair's office and said 'we noticed that you were supporting Mr. Gore during the Presidential election'... Blair was given a list of the things that would befall Britain from military subsidies and equipment, to a reduction of value in the dollar versus the pound, which would destroy England's exportability. And Blair was basically told get in line, stand up and salute or 'here's your last cigarette, Tony.'"

"George Bush's administration has called on US companies in Britain to relocate jobs to America in an astonishing move that could trigger a major trade war. US-based multinationals have been told they will receive compensation from American trade authorities if they cancel contracts in Britain and take jobs home, according to CBI director-general Digby Jones. Speaking at the CBI's annual conference in Birmingham, Jones said: 'Three chief executives of American companies investing in Britain have told me to my face that they have been told to close down, bring their stuff home and make it in the US.' He said the companies were major employers in defence or manufacturing. Jones continued: 'Whether flouting international law with their steel tariffs or telling their companies to come home, this bullying affects Britain and British jobs." Weird timing, given the Bush visit to the UK. Is Georgus Bushus Caesar lashing back at the Brits because they hate his guts? Bullying Blair?

"Miami police will be 'embedding' reporters with police squads during next week's protests against trade negotiations. The Associated Press reports, Police Chief John Timoney said his embedding plan would place journalists on the front lines during the Free Trade Area of the Americas talks taking place in Miami. Police expect tens of thousands of demonstrators. 'The news organizations invited to participate in the embedding include The Associated Press, NBC, Reuters, The Miami Herald, CNN, Fox and several TV stations. The police are still drawing up the rules reporters must follow, so individual organizations have not officially agreed yet to participate,' AP writes. 'The journalists will be responsible for their own safety and will be required to have a riot helmet and gas mask. Journalists are also required to sign a release form as well as agree not to report on such things as the number of officers in a unit or how many units are participating in an event.'"

"A new World Bank study suggests that unless rules for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas are radically changed, Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to suffer from the growing poverty and inequality that plague the region... The World Bank's annual report on the region released last month states that the poor and ethnic minorities lack of access to public services and decision-making on political, economic and social policies are responsible for Latin Americas problems... The report suggests that to reverse this trend, the regions political and social institutions need to be more inclusive and that the poor need more access to high-quality public services, which include education, health, water and electricity. The irony is that these suggested reforms are antithetical to the FTAA."

From United for Peace and Justice: "In just over two week's time, trade ministers from every country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba will meet in Miami to continue negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a sweeping trade agreement that would seek to boost corporate profits by overriding existing laws on a vast array of matters, including environmental laws, labor laws, health and safety regulations, and much more. These trade ministers will spend two days before their ministerial meeting with top business leaders from across the Americas -- but at no point in their negotiations are they consulting with the 800 million ordinary people throughout the hemisphere whose lives would be impacted by the FTAA... The results of this referendum -- mountains of ballots and petitions representing the depth of popular opposition to this disastrous trade agreement -- will be presented during the FTAA meetings in Miami."

"Int'l trade agreements such as the NAFTA, the WTO's General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), and the pending FTAA threaten the jurisdiction of any elected or appointed representative of a sovereign people at any level of government. A National League of Cities resolution declared that the trade agreements could 'undermine the scope of local governmental authority under the Constitution.' Last year, the Conference of Chief Justices, consisting of the top judges from each state, wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate stating that the proposed FTAA 'does not protect adequately the traditional values of constitutional federalism' and 'threatens the integrity of the courts of this country.' Six state legislatures have expressed concern over trade agreements, as has the National Council of State Legislators. Their statements, however more discreet, nonetheless echo the chants from the streets of Seattle: 'This isn't about trade, this isn't about business; this is about democracy.'"

Mark Ritchie and Kristin Dawkins write: "Forget the spin you have been reading about the 'failure' of the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun. It was one of the most successful international meetings in years because it redefined how trade can benefit the poor and how the developing world can be real players in these negotiations... Cancun could lead to trade talks that actually bring about fair trade, and the benefits to both the developing and the developed world that have long been promised. What did we learn in Cancun? Three things: First, that equitable and effective global trade agreements can't be negotiated when the balance of power rests exclusively with the wealthiest nations. Second, that civil society has a legitimate and useful role in these discussions. And third, that fair trade, trade that ensures that producers are paid a fair price and workers are paid fair wages, is the world's best hope for a sustainable trading environment."

"'Our demonstrations will be absolutely peaceful in the best tradition of our democratic right to protest,' said Gihan Perera of the Miami Workers Center, while fellow free-trade critics held signs reading 'Stop FTAA.' 'We are trying to have a pro-active program,' Perera said. Authorities expect 20,000 to 100,000 protesters, ranging from British songwriter Billy Bragg to Canadian author and corporate critic Naomi Klein, to U.S. labor leaders and even politicians from Washington, D.C.. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, an 11-term incumbent and labor advocate, said she'll join members of Congress and the Teamsters union in Miami... To redress the problems, Kaptur, Root Cause and other free-trade critics say they want labor, environmental and civic groups to have greater input in the accords drafted by government trade ministries. 'It's not fair that a handful of people are trying to decide the fate of more than 800 million people in an FTAA,' said Sushma Sheth of Root Cause."

IP Justice press release: "International civil liberties group IP Justice published a report today entitled 'FTAA: A Threat to Freedom and Free Trade,' that analyzes key sections of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA will govern the lives of 800 million Americans in the Western Hemisphere in 2005. Similar to NAFTA, the FTAA seeks to bind the 34 democracies in the Western Hemisphere (including the US) to a single trade agreement. It will require all countries to change their domestic laws on a wide range of topics, including intellectual property rights. The draft intellectual property rights chapter in the FTAA Agreement vastly expands criminal procedures and penalties against intellectual property infringements throughout the Americas. One clause would require countries to send non-commercial infringers such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharers to prison. It is estimated that 60 million Americans use file-sharing software in the US alone."

"While Houston business leaders say trade deals are a plus for Texas, critics point to the recent shutdown of the Levi Straus factory in San Antonio, where 800 workers lost their jobs, as the best counterargument to the Central American Free Trade Agreement... Similar concerns are shared by a wide range of protesters who are converging in Houston as the eighth round of CAFTA talks are held this week... Nelson Reyes, executive director of the Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization/Central American Refugee Center, believes the trade deal will only exacerbate the gap between the rich and the poor in Central America. As in most of Latin America, a few wealthy families control El Salvador, said Reyes, who emigrated from there. He believes they will benefit from CAFTA but that poor farmers will be driven out of business by American imports and the middle class will not benefit from it. He wants Central American immigrants who live in the United States to be included in the talks."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: "A coalition of labor, small farming and environmental groups rallied Friday in St. Louis to protest Resident Bush's plan to create a massive free-trade zone spanning the Americas. The coalition fears that such a trade zone would accelerate job losses as more plants move abroad. Members include the Greater St. Louis Labor Council and the Southwestern Illinois Central Labor Council. The Bush administration is negotiating with 33 countries to set up a Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, by 2005. While businesses say eliminating tariffs will spur growth, unions argue that free-trade deals lead to lost jobs. Stung by the effects of NAFTA labor has organized a 'blue-green' coalition to oppose FTAA. Small farmers 'have been a big-time loser in free-trade agreements,' said Bryce Oates, an organizer with Missouri Rural Crisis Center in Columbia, Mo. Instead, trade deals should allow countries to protect themselves from unfair trade, he said."

"There are now more than 550 million slum dwellers in Asia; 187 million in Africa; 128 million in Latin America and the Caribbean; and another 54 million in the world's 30 richest countries. The global urban population, say the authors, increased 36% in the 1990s alone. They expect almost all future population growth to occur in cities, but not the mega conurbations like Lagos or Dhaka. Future growth, they predict, will be in cities of 1-5mn... The authors point the finger at local authorities for not keeping up with the problems posed by rapid urbanisation. They argue, too, that governments have been marked by corruption and incompetence, but they say that the greatest underlying reason for the growth in slums has been laissez-faire globalisation. By this they mean the tearing down of trade barriers, the liberalisation and privatisation of nat'l economies, the structural adjustment programs imposed on indebted countries by the IMF, and the lowering of tariffs promoted by the WTO."

"A coalition of labor, agricultural and environmental interests is headed to Miami in an attempt to pre-empt a regional trade agreement being pushed by the Bush administration. Seven people on the bus to Florida stopped in Billings for a forum Monday night... Dena Hoff, a Glendive farmer: 'We want to show our solidarity to those refusing to accept the legitimacy of the agreements,' she said. 'Ordinary people have no input. These agreements should be for the benefit of people everywhere in the world rather than for a few multinational corporations.' She related her experience of meeting the South Korean farmer who committed suicide during the protests in Cancun. 'He was not a crazy guy,' she said. 'He had been an activist all his life... He found the resources to bring 158 farmers from Korea to Cancun. Apparently, he thought he would have the opportunity to meet with negotiators, but when he found that he would not be able to do so, it was more than he could bear.'"

"An ordinance would ban masks, puppets, padded clothing, bandanas or signs on sticks as the city braces for protests at mid-November talks for a Free Trade Area of the Americas; the rules would end when talks do. 'Looks like they're not even going to let us rabble rousers into the city,' grouses a veteran of Seattle riots at 1999 World Trade Organization summit. In the poll, 54% say free trade isn't worth jobs lost when U.S. companies send work abroad; 38% say trade means more jobs here." (online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB106452996694830000,00.html) Read NBC completely whitewashed version of the story (with ZERO reporting on what the ordinance actually bans) below.

"AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka will be joined by leaders from a broad coalition opposing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to announce the kickoff in Seattle Saturday of a 30-city 'March to Miami,' culminating in a massive protest at the FTAA ministerial to take place in November. Those joining Trumka for the launch of the March to Miami will include leaders of the Steelworkers, the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, the Sierra Club, Citizens Trade Campaign, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, National Family Farm Coalition, AFSCME, and a Colombian trade unionist. The coalition is part of a broad movement opposing the FTAA, calling for trade policies that support working families, healthy communities and a safe environment for all. The March to Miami features an outfitted bus described as the 'Blue-Green Machine.'" Check out their new 'March to Miami' site below!

"The Free Trade Area of the Americas, a U.S. project that has just come under fire within and without a meeting of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico, is now worrying Miami on account of the large street protests that events such as these, suffering from a neoliberal globalization profile, bring in their wake, according to its detractors... The first reaction of the Miami police force was to warn of the millionaire resources that would have to be devoted to repression and security, possibly amounting to around $7 million, according to The Miami Herald. The South Florida Fair Trade and Global Justice organization, a 17-group coalition responsible for coordinating peaceful action in opposition to the FTAA, ...is expecting 10,000-50,000 people prepared to protest in November... Those radically opposed to the project sustain that it is designed to sweep away any independence or sovereignty in the region, not only in commercial terms but also in the political and economic contexts."

"A South Korean farmer was in critical condition on Friday after setting himself ablaze during a memorial service for a fellow farmer who stabbed himself to death in a protest against world trade talks in Mexico. Park Dong-ho, 31, suffered severe burns at the service in North Kyongsang province on Thursday after pouring gasoline on himself and setting it alight. 'He cannot breathe without artificial respiratory equipment,' a nurse at the Yeung Nam University Medical Center in Taegu told Reuters by telephone. The body of Lee Kyung-hae, whose suicide over the World Trade Organisation's attempt to open up global agricultural markets shocked the world, arrived on Thursday in Seoul on a flight from Los Angeles, met by hundreds of local farmers. The suicide of the hardened agricultural activist has made Lee a martyr to his cause and triggered a series of farmers' protests in Korea against the government's agricultural policies and the WTO talks."

WashPost reports: "In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection. Eighteen months later, key administration officials have concluded that Bush's order has turned into a debacle. Some economists say the tariffs may have cost more jobs than they saved, by driving up costs for automakers and other steel users. Politically, the strategy failed to produce union endorsements and appears to have hurt Bush with workers in Michigan and Tennessee -- also states at the heart of his 2004 strategy. 'They tried to play politics, and it looked like it was working for a while,' said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with ties to the administration. 'But now it's fallen apart.'"

Washington Post: "In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, Bush...imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection. Eighteen months later, key officials have concluded that Bush's order has turned into a debacle. Some economists say the tariffs may have cost more jobs than they saved, by driving up costs... Politically, the strategy failed to produce union endorsements and appears to have hurt Bush with workers in Michigan and Tennessee - also states at the heart of his 2004 strategy. 'They tried to play politics, and it looked like it was working for a while,' said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with ties to the administration. 'But now it's fallen apart.'... Administration officials said Karl Rove was a vocal and energetic advocate of tariffs during the debate last winter." Looks like Bush's Brain is having an aneurysm - somebody pull the plug already.

"The U.S.-based National Family Farm Coalition joined with farmers and peasants around the world in welcoming the collapse of the WTO talks. George Naylor, an Iowa corn and soybean farmer stated, 'While the U.S. government was misrepresenting the interests of family farmers, rural communities, and consumers in their negotiating position at Cancun, enough governments, mostly from poorer countries, stood up for their citizens in rejecting the WTO agreement. The collapse of these talks is a resounding rejection of the failed cheap commodity policy of the US and EU... [Instead, the] U.S. must take the lead as a major exporter to set a floor under farm prices, create a food security reserve, and enable farmers around the world to grow food sustainably instead of encouraging the further industrialization of the world's food system. Our government needs to care more about public and economic health and less about corporate welfare for giant food exporters and corporate food processors.'"

Miami Herald: "Failed world trade talks in Mexico dashed the free trade community's hopes for an early victory on global trade. Now, the same volatile issues - and Brazil's emergence at the forefront of developing world demands - are certain to define the November gathering of hemispheric trade ministers in Miami to discuss the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. Miami hosts the Nov. 20-21 hemispheric trade ministers' meeting as part of the state and local business community's effort to have the city chosen as a permanent headquarters for the proposed trade agreement. But events in Cancun have unsettled the global trade agenda. An energized and more united developing world emerged after trade ministers failed Sunday to reach any agreement on a framework and agenda for WTO talks aimed at lower trade barriers. 'The failure at Cancun will make progress in the FTAA more difficult,' said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland."

"World trade talks intended to help the developing nations unexpectedly collapsed today when delegates from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia walked out, accusing wealthy nations of failing to offer sufficient compromises on agriculture and other issues. While not as disastrous as the breakdown of talks in Seattle 4 years ago, the failure to reach an accord today was widely regarded as a huge setback for the WTO... One delegate said the group felt they had little choice but to quit the talks. 'There is nothing for us small countries in this proposal,' he said. 'We don't want any of this.' Yet those nations...vowed to work for a trade agreement on agriculture now that the talks move back to Geneva. A spokesman for the group said those nations had demonstrated that they were a new force in the trading organization. 'This is the real start in negotiations over agriculture,' he said. 'Whatever the process, the pieces will be picked up again.'"

"[M]ore than 100 women went forward with bolt cutters and began dismantling the security walls, bit by bit. What a diversity of women it was! Indigenous women, punks, students, old women, young women, Mexican women, American and European women, African women.... Thousands of people of all nations, races and cultures, punks, black blocks, peasants, etc., together pulled the walls down. Quite literally, the power of the people, united, pulled down the walls of the WTO. When the walls finally fell, there stood thousands of riot police clearly spoiling for a fight. Just when they thought we would attack, the Koreans who were on the front line turned their backs on them, everyone else sat down, hundreds of flowers appeared, and we had a mass memorial for Mr. Lee [the Korean farmer who killed himself in protest]. Hundreds of journalists marveled at our collective ability to turn promised violence into moving peace, and to make a statement so powerful that the WTO could not hope to resist."

Trade talks in Cancun "looked set for failure last night after negotiators failed to bridge a gulf between rich and poor nations. A draft agreement to be signed by 148 WTO members shattered hopes that the EU and US had given in to developing countries' demands on the aid they hand out to their farmers. It also failed to heed poor countries' pleas to scrap plans to start new negotiations on a single global package of laws on foreign investment and domestic business competition systems. Ministers last night began a marathon negotiation process in the hope of hammering out a new text that can be signed before the meeting ends tonight. Pressure groups reacted with fury, saying that rich countries had reneged on promises to deliver a 'development round' of trade negotiations that would benefit poor countries.... Claire Melamed, the head of trade policy at Christian Aid, said: 'If this text were agreed, it would finally confirm the death of the development round.'"

On 9-13, the WTO submitted a second draft proposal. "A joint NGO statement describes the WTO drafting process as 'outrageous and offensive,' which reflects the positions of wealthy countries and corporate interests. Questioning who wrote the text, the statement points to the lack of transparency and democracy in the WTO.... The release of the text was followed by negotiations in a non-transparent 'green room' process, [in which some] countries were invited into a meeting with the US and EU to continue negotiations." Meeting invitees were told that if they accepted US-EU demands on government procurement, investment, and trade issues, they would receive concessions in agriculture. "[US trade rep] Cathy Novelli gave 'lobbying assignments' at one briefing to use the 'bank shot' strategy of putting pressure on business colleagues: 'If you have investments in these countries, educate them that these issues matter to you and where you put your money. Get the drift of what I am saying.'"

"Liechtenstein has only 150 farmers left, most of them herding cattle in the Alps. But the tiny principality is determined that those farmers stay in business. 'This is not a question of quotas, it's a question of identity. It's a question of culture,' Liechtenstein's Foreign Affairs Minister told journalists.... In poor west African nations, hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers struggle not to maintain a cultural heritage but simply to feed their families." Liechtenstein is part of a group of arch-protectionist countries - the "nasty nine" - "an alliance of small industrialised countries with economically unviable farm sectors. Their governments insist they have a right to use tariffs, quotas and subsidies to protect their farmers because agriculture is not just about economics but also about national culture and heritage, food security and animal welfare. The nine comprise Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Israel and Liechstenstein."

AP reports: "The WTO issued a draft resolution Saturday to force member countries to cut farm subsidies, but it didn't go as far as many developing nations have demanded and some called it unacceptable.... Developing countries, led by Brazil, India and China, asked for the elimination of all subsidies for goods being exported, and major cuts in subsidies for domestic farm products. But the proposal appeared to stop short of what they asked. The document does not set a date for the elimination of export subsidies and offers smaller reductions than the developing countries had demanded of the domestic payments.... 'For the credibility of the WTO, the final text can't look like this,' said a spokesman for a grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.... 4 African nations that produce cotton had been asking the WTO to ban cotton subsidies.... The draft didn't give them much either. 'It's pretty lousy,' said an adviser to the government of Benin. 'They're buying time.'"

"The draft Cancun Ministerial test released this afternoon largely represents the continued promotion of the U.S.- EU proposal and would do nothing to address the widespread practice of agricultural dumping. In fact, by proposing no timeframe for reductions in all forms of export subsidies, this text is a step back from earlier proposals. In addition, the text suggests that the Peace Clause will be extended. This would make it much more difficult for developing countries to challenge export dumping in the WTO. 'The last WTO agreement, signed in Marrakech, led to a near doubling of dumping by companies exporting out of the United States. This proposed text… will simply intensify the global commodity crisis that is crushing farmers around the world,' said Mark Ritchie of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. 'What we're seeing is more of the same failed approach to trade - where the U.S. and EU get to continue dumping agricultural products onto the world market.'"

Tom Turner writes: "The new coalition of 21 developing countries (recently swollen to 26)...has attracted much attention, as well as support from many nongovernmental organizations, with its challenge to the formula proposed by the US and the EU for reducing tariffs and subsidies.... [T]he deputy US trade rep. [said] that the US is perplexed about the coalition since it is quite diverse and includes countries whose traditional positions on various agricultural trade issues are anything but compatible. He said they can't figure out what unifies the coalition. (Hint: Try near universal disgust with U.S. unilateralism over Iraq, Kyoto, and a dozen other matters.) He said they'd continue to try to find common ground, but didn't say that back-door pressure wouldn't be tried. (Eileen Kwa of Forum on the Global South reported that Resident Bush himself had telephoned the leaders of South Africa, Thailand, and India to pressure those countries to abandon the coalition.)"

"Cancun is witnessing a historic event with so many developing countries, which represent over half the world population, uniting to stand up to the bullying by rich nations around crucial issues such as agriculture and investment.... Ministers representing seventy developing countries sent the strongest message yet to the EU to abandon its call for negotiations on the four 'new' issues of investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation at the WTO's Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun.... On agriculture...developing countries are demanding a major reduction in agricultural subsidies, which will lead to an elimination of these subsidies by rich nations as an essential part of an agricultural agreement.... [S]ubsidies to rich farmers in the U.S. and farmers in the EU amount to $1 billion a day which lead to dumping of cheap subsidized imports from the U.S. and the EU. The agriculture subsidies in the U.S. cost Third World nations $50 billion a year."

"So far NGOs had been allowed into the press briefings at the Cancun Ministerial though they were not allowed to ask questions. Yesterday's US Trade Rep. press briefing was interrupted by Greenpeace activists who delivered maize to officials from the USTR offices. A representative from Greenpeace Latin America then addressed the press briefly on the impact of genetic contamination of maize by GM crops in Mexico.... This action was met with hostility and screaming by a man wearing press credentials. The WTO then issued a statement, banning NGO entry to the press briefings. It was later discovered that the man wearing press credentials, William Dabaghi, works for Maximus International. Their website claims, 'Specializing in Agribusiness and Focusing on the WTO.'... Tom Hayden, a fellow at the Nation Institute, reported that at the end of the briefing, William Dabaghi shook hands with the panelists from the USTR and said, 'I will handle the hecklers for you or you would have to do it.'"

"'We are told that trade can provide a ladder to a better life and deliver us from poverty and despair... Sadly, the reality of the international trading system today does not match the rhetoric,' UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan said in statement read at the opening session of the five-day WTO conference. Mexican President Vicente Fox, speaking as host of the event, said, 'We can no longer permit well-being to be limited to a few nations. We can no longer postpone the battle against poverty and marginalization.'.... While the opening session took place, a group of around 3,000 activists gathered in the parks and culture centres of the city of Cancun for a parallel conference known as the People's Forum.... A group of European and Latin American parliamentarians took part in the marches, serving as 'human shields' and in an effort to use their presence to 'see if the protest could be held at the WTO meeting venue,' said lawmaker Pedro Marcel, of the Spanish opposition coalition United Left."

"The opening session of the fifth ministerial summit of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico was interrupted this morning when between 30 and 40 activists from different countries around the world stood en masse, placed black tape over their mouths, and held up signs with messages such as 'WTO Obsolete' and 'WTO Undemocratic.' Their action, which took place during the opening address by WTO Director General Supachai Pantichpakdi, effectively dramatized the refusal by the WTO to attend to the voices and concerns of the bulk of the world's population. Although Supachai did not stop speaking, attention was effectively focused on the rejection of the WTO by people around the world. A statement issued by the protesters said: 'Our act of protest today is one that is meant to symbolize the fact that peoples throughout the world have turned their backs on an institution that has become a source of global poverty, inequality, disempowerment, and environmental crisis."

"Today in Cancun, Kyung Hae Lee, a 56-year old South Korean farmer, died after stabbing himself in protest of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a global trading institution that has been leaving farmers hopeless and desperate, and silently killing them the world over. Lee was among the 120 Korean farmers who courageously rammed a dragon structure into the chain-linked fence barricade heavily armed with police and military separating civil society from the official trade meeting. After the barricade fell, Lee climbed to the top and stabbed himself in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital and died soon after. Lee's sacrifice underscores the urgent plight he and small farmers around the world face under the current negotiations on agriculture. 'He believes that if the negotiations go through, it will be the death of the Korean farmer,' said a colleague with the Korea Peoples' Solidarity Movement."

Day 1: "Today was the long-awaited inauguration of the International Farmers' and Indigenous Peoples' Forum.... Thanks to the solidarity of hundreds of people and organizations from around the world who have responded so far to a grassroots internet fundraising appeal, it has been possible to charter nearly 200 busses so thousands of desperately poor indigenous peasants from Mexico could attend. They come to protest free trade policies - begun through NAFTA and set to be intensified by the WTO - that have brought maize prices down by 50% in less than ten years and torn apart the social fabric of rural communities, as family members are forced to migrate to make ends meet.... Speakers included Dena Hoff of the National Family Farm Coalition of the USA, who said 'we stand together with our Mexican and Canadian brothers and sisters in the struggle to roll back NAFTA and to fight for a better and more just world for all.'" Use the link below to sign up for daily updates from Cancun.

"Millions of people oppose the WTO because they believe that if we are going to have global government, it should be open, transparent, and democratic. The WTO's central mythology is this: by setting up rules that create global protections for corporate int'l trade and investment the majority of people in the world will benefit. [However, the] vast majority of transnational trade and investment is controlled by large corporations that are not rooted in place, not committed to any particular community. By putting transnational corporate power above that of nat'l governments and local communities, these new rules will subordinate democratic decision making to the will of these corporations. But most people (workers and small business) are rooted in place: they...cannot freely roam the planet seeking profit opportunities. Global economic rules that help transnational corporations get bigger and stronger are killing the small business sector that creates most of our jobs."

"Venezuela declared war on Friday against what it called an unfair world trade system and urged developing nations not to subscribe to any new agreements at upcoming global trade talks next week.... Venezuela's chief trade negotiator Victor Alvarez said the world's poorest countries had only a tiny share of world exports, which were hogged by rich nations: 'It's clear who are the winners and losers of today's world trade system.' 'We'll be taking the fight to inside the WTO,' he said. Alvarez said President Hugo Chavez's left-wing government would not negotiate over its demand, shared with other developing countries, that rich industrialized nations end 'ruinous subsidies' for their farm products. Challenging what he called the 'pro-market fundamentalism' of the US and other rich nations, he insisted on the right of Third World states to intervene heavily in their economies to promote development and fight poverty." Brace yourself for coup attempt by the Bush faction of the CIA.

"The United States threatened to go it alone by seeking one-on-one trade pacts if the world fails to overcome a logjam and secure a free-trade deal by January 1, 2005. World Trade Organization ministers are preparing for a September 10 to 14 conference in Cancun, Mexico to salvage the negotiations, bogged down by deep-seated disputes, especially over farm trade. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Washington was prepared to pursue its own free-trade agenda if the WTO proved unable to do its job. Resident George W. Bush was committed to free trade, he said, noting that Bush had signed legislation Wednesday to implement free trade deals with Chile and Singapore. 'We will find countries that want to open up markets with the United States,' Zoellick told a conference here. 'I hope they will be in the WTO. But if they are not, we are not stopping. We are moving with the countries that are willing to go,' he warned."

The Financial Times reports: "US tariffs on imports from developing countries are as much as 20 times higher than those charged on imports from other rich nations, according to Oxfam, the development group.... Oxfam said European Union tariffs also discriminated heavily against developing countries.... 'The overall effect of discriminatory tariff systems is to lower demand for goods produced by the poor, and to exclude them from a stake in global prosperity. Northern tariff structures are designed to undermine developing country exports in precisely those areas where they have a comparative advantage,' Oxfam said. The discrepancies arose because wealthy countries imposed high tariffs on many products, such as textiles and clothing, that were a mainstay of developing countries' exports. They also charged escalating tariffs on products at each stage of processing."

The Miami Herald reports: "With Miami's trade ministerial only three months away, antifree-trade groups have released a videotape in which a local advisory board member can be heard suggesting that perks be given to foreign officials as a way to win the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The video shows an April 24 roundtable discussion of Miami's strategy to win the permanent secretariat of the FTAA. Panelist Jerry Haar, director of the University of Miami's inter-American business and labor program, advocates offering scholarships to UM or Florida International University to the children of influential officials or season tickets to UM football games. ... The release of the video is but a foretaste of the antiglobalization protest expected during November's meeting of the hemisphere's 34 trade ministers. Anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 free-trade fighters are expected to descend on the city."

Kevin Watkins, head of research at Oxfam Int'l, writes, "Failure at Cancun would be a disaster on two counts. First, the current WTO talks, dubbed the 'development round,' provide an opportunity to reform the unfair trade rules that disadvantage poor countries and perpetuate the obscene inequalities at the heart of globalization. This is a chance for the rich world to show that it is capable of backing promises to tackle world poverty with practical action. Second, a successful 'development round' could reverse the dangerous trend toward regionalism, bilateralism and unrestrained power politics in world trade, creating the foundations for a renewal of international cooperation. Conversely, failure would signal the end of multilateralism in world trade, stripping the WTO of its already threadbare credibility. Responsibility for the fate of the Cancun talks resides overwhelmingly in the national capitals of the rich world." How will they act?

Erich Marquardt writes for PINR: "On July 11 the World Trade Organization (WTO) argued that the Bush administration's attempt to protect the U.S. domestic steel industry by placing protectionist tariffs on imported steel violates international agreements and, in general, free trade. The tariffs, which in some cases amount to 30 percent of the price of imported steel, have created controversy abroad due to what many countries consider to be unfair trade practices. The purpose of the tariffs is to protect the U.S. steel industry... By placing tariffs on foreign steel imports, U.S. domestic steel companies are able to increase their share of the consumer market, since consumers are more apt to purchase cheaper steel. Fueling the controversy, and in what is a violation of the ideals of global free trade, selected states that are part of regional free trade pacts with the United States are exempt from the tariffs, such as Canada, Mexico, Israel and Jordan."

"The national consumer group Public Citizen joined civil society groups around the globe today in a coordinated release of secret negotiating documents that have been leaked from the World Trade Organization's (WTO) service-sector negotiations. The documents expose the threat that the closed-door 'GATS 2000' talks pose to essential public services upon which people worldwide rely daily. The documents reveal the sweeping scope of issues now on the negotiating table. The issues include the privatization and deregulation of public energy and water utilities, postal services, higher education and alcohol distribution systems; the right for foreign firms to obtain U.S. government small-business loans; and extreme deregulation of private-sector service industries such as insurance, banking, mutual funds and securities."

"The People's Consultation is the U.S. component of a hemisphere-wide campaign against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The campaign includes workshops, public hearings, resolutions, and a national survey. We ask a simple set of questions: Who benefits? Who loses? and Who decides? We are part of an inclusive movement for global justice and equality, addressing the increasing marginalization of people throughout the hemisphere, especially immigrants, the poor, women and people of color. As corporations and governments negotiate a trade agreement that will affect 800 million people, our voices must be heard."

"The fast-track bill passed by Congress last week would hand exclusive treaty negotiation power to the executive branch, while eliminating the role of Congress in crafting those treaties. The unambiguous purpose of the bill is greasing the wheels for passage of the 'Free Trade' Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). As a result, the legislation ultimately could enable corporate lawyers to pre-empt democratically-enacted laws at every level of government. While that may sound like the rant of anti-globalization protestors, the National League of Cities echoes the concern. An NLC resolution warns that the FTAA could 'undermine the scope of local governmental authority under the Constitution.' The Conference of Chief Justices, consisting of the top judges from each state, concurs. In a letter to the U.S. Senate it states that the FTAA bill 'does not protect adequately the traditional values of constitutional federalism' and 'threatens the integrity of the courts of this country.'"

Nick Penniman writes that Fast Track Trade Authority "has little to do with the power of the presidency or the strengthening of America's economy; it's all about pumping up the power of global corporations to control markets and avoid government regulation. The new law not only denies Congress the ability to amend executive-branch trade deals, it also spreads NAFTA's Chapter 11 provisions to 31 countries, which will create a free-trade zone that will blanket the Western Hemisphere. Chapter 11 allows corporations to sue governments, in secret World Trade Organization tribunals, for 'regulatory takings' -- the projected financial costs to businesses for having to comply with health, safety and environmental laws. Some Chapter 11 challenges have already forced governments to weaken their laws; others have ended in government payouts to allegedly aggrieved businesses."

Public Citizen's Lori Wallach writes, "This travesty of a vote will be remembered as the Midsummer Night's Massacre, where growing popular concern about corporate-led globalization was shot down... Public opposition to NAFTA-style trade deals has grown so strong that now the only way to move this policy is to ram through at 3:00 a.m. in the dark of night 304 pages of legislation combining five different trade bills which was unavailable for public or congressional review until hours before the vote... A tidal wave of hypocrisy ripped through Washington's wee hours. It has been a tawdry spectacle to watch the GOP House leadership and Bush ramming through a 'trade' bill which has as its main agenda promoting massive global corporate deregulation just hours after crowing about passage of new regulations aimed at the corporate crime wave caused by the very sort of deregulation this bill promotes globally."

Jim Hightower writes, "This global corporate rush for the 'blue gold' of our public water resources is being ably aided and abetted by our own government. Deep inside NAFTA [is] a little nasty called Chapter 11, which water corporations already are using to force local governments to break the dam and turn loose their water for private exploitation. Also, with our government's blessing, the World Bank and IMF routinely pressure Third World nations to privatize their water systems. Now, the White House and Congress are ratcheting up their privatization push here at home with a sneak attack called the Water Investment Act of 2002 [which] says that a local water project in your city cannot get federal financing unless the local government 'has considered' privatizing your water system... Substituting private interest for public interest has not exactly been serendipitous in the energy sector -- so why in hell should we give corporations (foreign-based ones, at that) our water?"

In the middle of the night, Republicans stripped all environmental and labor protections out of the Fast Track trade bill and worked to railroad the bill through the House and Senate. No one has seen a copy of the bill - not even the members of the conference committee - but Republicans have nevertheless scheduled a vote on Friday. When the House voted on the horrible bill earlier this year, it passed by ONE vote. YOU can make a difference - call your Representative at 202-224-3121 TODAY and Say NO to Fast Track!

George Bush "actively promotes trade policies that would recklessly sacrifice fundamental powers of our federal, state and local governments. [Corporate-dominated trade negotiators have been quietly negotiating a new free trade agreement. Few people in the U.S.] have even heard of this incredible and dangerous proposal. NAFTA is bad enough. [But under FTAA], a multinational corporation could sue a local, state or national government if it could provide a service more cheaply than that government... And for what higher purpose? To protect multinational corporations' right to make profits in the tremendous markets represented by government services. Given the huge implications of these issues, do you wonder who is their final arbiter? Special quasi-judicial trade tribunals out of reach of U.S. courts and citizen democracy. Instead of promoting the FTAA, a truly patriotic president would fight it tooth and nail." So writes Madison (WI) Capitol Times columnist Margaret Krome.

"Bush has turned out to be quite protectionist. The steel tariff and the farm bill attracted the most attention, but they are part of a broader picture that includes the punitive (and almost completely unjustified) tariff on Canadian softwood lumber and the revocation of Caribbean trade privileges. When it comes to free trade, the Bush administration is all for it - unless there is some political cost… to honoring its alleged principles… The Bush-Cheney energy plan may have been conservative in the sense that it was anti-environmentalist, but otherwise it was stuffed full of things free-marketeers are supposed to abhor: expanded government power to seize private land (for transmission lines), large tax incentives for energy sources that don't pay their way at market prices (nuclear power ). The energy plan wasn't about principles; it was about payback… We are witnessing a race to the bottom in interest-driven politics, taking us to depths not seen since before the New Deal."

Earlier this year, George Bush and Tom DeLay used coercion and corruption to push 'Fast Track' trade dictatorship through the House by ONE vote. The Senate recently passed a different version, so the House will have to vote again - and 'Fast Track' opponents believe that vote can be won. Local coalitions are organizing meetings with their Representatives THIS WEEK, so check this page to get involved. And call your Representative (202-224-3121) to insist they oppose 'Fast Track'.

"Please support the Corzine Amendment to FAST TRACK. Our significant public services should not be privatized without debate and votes by our elected leaders. We don't want new trade agreements to undermine our Constitution, or change access to essential services. We must ensure that trade agreements (like GATS and FTAA) don't include commitments to privatize significant public services, including National Security, Social Security, Public Health and Safety, and Education. Any change in these areas should be fully debated, in Congress, and by state or local lawmakers. Rein-in the push to privatize public services. Please Vote Yes on the Corzine Amendment." Send a letter to your Senators!

John Nichols writes, "After the U.S. House of Representatives voted by one vote last December to grant President Bush Fast Track authority to negotiate a sweeping Free Trade Area of the Americas, the White House was convinced that the issue was settled. So too were many of activists who had poured their time and energy into opposing Fast Track... But appearances were deceiving. Fast Track ended up on the slow track in a Senate controlled by Democrats who were in no rush to do Bush any major favors." Senate Leaders resisted White House pressure just long enough to allow critics to rally the opposition. "Daschle and Baucus were surprised this week when the appeal of those objections became evident. By a voice vote Tuesday, the Senate approved a major amendment [that gutted] the Fast Track resolution... Senators were not swayed by any of the threats or warnings."

Jim Abrams from AP writes, "Ignoring a veto threat, the Senate voted Tuesday to give Congress greater leeway to change international trade deals deemed harmful to American industry." This will prevent King George from doing things for greed and greed only, and at the same time. "While our country's future trade policies are debatable, the right of Congress to participate actively in setting those policies is not," said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-MN.

John Nichols writes in the Nation, "Tom Sawyer, who broke with other industrial-state Democrats to back free trade measures such as NAFTA, suffered a stunning defeat in [his] Democratic primary. [It was] a blunt signal for Democrats who side with Wall Street against Main Street. Trade issues have long been viewed by labor and environmental activists as the canary-in-the-coal mine measures of corporate dominance over Congress [and] Sawyer's defeat must be read as very bad news for those free-trade Democrats." Of course, there still will be some who don't quite 'get it.' On the same day, Senate Leaders "were cutting a deal to give President [sic] Bush Fast Track authority to negotiate" sweeping agreements "that critics describe as 'NAFTA on steroids'... No matter what happens, however, Tom Sawyer will be leaving Congress. With him should go the assumption that Democratic voters will always forgive and forget free-trade votes of Democratic members of Congress."

"These 'trade agreements' are actually 'corporate governance agreements' as they shift power and authority from elected officeholders... to corporations. By wagging a magic wand over local, state and federal laws that at least modestly protects the environment, human rights, workers, and local/state sovereignty, corporations claim under NAFTA that such laws are 'impediments to trade' and therefore, shazam, should disappear to allow corporations and capital to move where they want, when they want, however they want... Yet for people concerned about corporate globalization, Tom Sawyer is not the real problem. Corporate governance is. 'Global trade' is not innately bad, only so when corporations possess the power to determine global trade rules. 'Fair trade' can be equitable and sustainable, but only so when corporations aren't in the drivers seat defining workers rights and the environment as toothless 'side agreements.'" So writes Greg Coleridge of the Economic Justice Program.

"The European Union is demanding that foreign companies be allowed to compete with the U.S. Postal Service as part of World Trade Organization talks that began last year. According to a draft copy of its demands obtained by The Washington Times, Europe also wants access to American markets for municipal water and waste services. It also will call for foreign companies to be given access to Small Business Administration loans. The European demands, which will be formally presented to the U.S. government by the end of June, mark the opening salvo in WTO negotiations on trade in services, an area that includes industries from finance to telecommunications to energy... 'Now the cat is out of the bag,' said Ruth Caplan, who handles trade issues for the Alliance for Democracy, a group critical of the WTO. 'From the mail we receive to the water we drink, the European requests show that our basic public services are under threat.'" So reports the Washington (Sun Myung Moon) Times.

The Policy Action Network reports that "fast track" -- also known as "trade promotion authority" -- is stalled in the Senate. Opponents want to include "trade adjustment assistance" (TAA) programs. "We wonder, though, why more attention isn't being paid to the legislation's Trojan horse: the expansion of NAFTA's Chapter 11 provisions to the Western Hemisphere. Under Chapter 11, corporations can sue governments, in secret World Trade Organization tribunals, for 'regulatory takings'... Although the tribunals cannot override laws, they can award corporations extensive damages (that force) governments... to alter or retract certain regulations. It's the kind of stuff that makes free-market zealots salivate. Amazingly, though, there seems to be very little debate about Chapter 11... someone needs to crack open the belly of this corporate hoax so that the public can see who falls out."

"In their eagerness to move production offshore, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business all join in a chant of 'free trade, fast track.' The retailers who make a bigger profit on imported goods cry 'free trade, fast track,' and newspapers, who make money from retail advertising, editorialize for free trade. But these cries are not really for making trade free - they are for transferring power over trade to the executive branch and favored corporate interests. This should not be the way economic policy works in a democracy. The Bush administration contends that trade agreements are passing us by because the president doesn't have fast track authority. This is baloney. During the 90's we entered into nearly 200 international commercial agreements without fast track, including the Caribbean Basin Initiative, and agreements with sub-Saharan Africa, Jordan and Vietnam." So writes Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC).

You gotta love the way our Resident-in-Thief has shot himself in the foot by ticking off the European Union with his stupid "axis of evil" phrase and his sabre-rattling in Iraq's direction. Not to mention that protectionist, anti-free-market tariff he slapped on imported steel, which was meant more to enhance his political standing in steel-producing states than to protect American jobs. David Broder reports in the International Herald Tribune that the EU is mad enough at Shrub that they're planning some strategically placed tariffs of their own - on products from swing states that Shrub desperately needs to win in 2004.

When Bush says he's for free trade and against taxes, that's a load of bull. "Last week's move by the Commerce Department to impose tariffs in a range of 20 to 28 percent on softwood lumber from all of Canada except the Maritimes... is a big deal. About one-third of all the softwood lumber used in this country comes from Canada. The trade is worth around $6 billion annually. And if the domestic home builders are correct, the $1,000 or so the higher tariffs will add to the price of an average new home is enough to price 300,000 American families out of the mortgage market... The administration is practicing crony capitalism more worthy of Suharto's Indonesia than the most powerful nation in the world. It is also piling hidden taxes on American consumers." So writes Tom Oliphant in the Boston Globe.

On October 9th of this last year, the European Union, under threat of sanctions from the WTO, gave its consent to a proposal to amend their banana import regime. At stake is the EU's preferential treatment of bananas from the Caribbean islands that had historical ties to European countries, over those from Central America, which are dominated by Dole and Chiquita.

David Broder writes "If you need a favor from this administration, you'd better be from a big state that figures importantly in the president's [sic] calculus for reelection. That, at least, is the lesson that many…are taking from a pair of controversial decisions President [sic] Bush has announced in the past few weeks. When it came to approving a nuclear waste dump... Bush was willing to forget the promises he and Vice President Cheney had made in the last campaign... Bush managed to rise above principle to please... Ohio and Pennsylvania. His deviation from his avowed free-trade beliefs was described (by the) Wall Street Journal... as 'the most dramatically protectionist step of any president in decades'...Tariffs on most steel imports will... phase out entirely three years from now. Let's see. Three years from now will be 2005, the year after the next election. If Bush wins, no one should be surprised if the steel industry finds itself jilted by the White House at that point. Just ask Nevada."

Arianna Huffington writes, "In theory, [NAFTA's] Chapter 11 is designed to compensate companies if foreign governments seize their property. But the lawyers who helped draft NAFTA inserted language making it possible for companies to also seek compensation when government regulations cause a dip in their future bottom line... Just how business-friendly is the provision? 'They could be putting liquid plutonium in children's food,' says Moyers, quoting a trade lawyer's advice to the Canadian government. 'If you ban it and the company making it is an American company, you have to pay compensation.' About two dozen companies have cashed in, or are in the process of trying to cash in on Chapter 11. Among the outrages Moyers exposes is the case of Methanex, a Canadian corporation that is suing the U.S. government for $970 million because California decided to phase out a cancer-causing gasoline additive the company produced." Outrageously, "Chapter 11 cases are decided: behind closed doors."

"The House gave President [sic] Bush the narrowest of victories today, passing legislation to give the president greater authority to forge international trade agreements. The outcome was in doubt until the end with GOP leaders scrambling into the afternoon for votes. The 215-214 vote came after House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a plea to support a war-time president. 'This Congress will either support our president [sic] who is fighting a courageous war on terrorism and redefining American world leadership or we will undercut this president [sic] at the worst possible time,' said Hastert, R-Ill." It's Howdy Denny Time! Try to catch Tom Delay's lips moving while Hastert speaks.

"The vote on Fast Track, aka Presidential Trade Promotion Authority (HR 3005), is scheduled in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 10:00 am. Call the toll-free numbers on Wednesday and Thursday morning. 1-888-832-4246 (courtesy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and 1-800-393-1082 (courtesy of the AFL-CIO). At the prompt give your zip code and ask for the staff person on trade. State that you want a 'NO' vote on FAST TRACK. What is Fast Track? It is the power that Congress hands over to the president who negotiates and writes trade agreements without Congressional advice and debate. Past trade agreements negotiated this way are NAFTA and WTO. Under Fast Track: Our elected representatives in Congress cannot change what Bush has negotiated. Congress cannot get rid of parts that benefit transnational corporations, but hurt working people and the environment. Congress cannot improve the agreement to make it better for the majority of people."

The WTO is holding its 4th Ministerial Meeting in Doha, Qatar, in order to keep protesters - and critical media coverage - away. But activists are fighting back. "In an unprecedented collaboration, Greenpeace, the international environmental organization, and the Independent Media Centers (IMC), a communications and media network of activists and amateur journalists, are teaming up to report and broadcast live from ... Qatar. The project plans to Webcast at least one hour of English programming daily during the WTO meeting, more if possible, looped for 24-hour access. (On November 9, tune in at: www.greenpeace.org or www.indymedia.org.) Plans for Arabic programming are also in the works. The origin of the 'broadcasts' will be the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, as it is docked in Doha, Qatar during the WTO meeting." So reports MediaChannel.org.

The WTO will meet in Qatar on Friday, as far as possible from US and European protesters. According to George Monbiot in the Guardian, "the draft declaration contains almost none of the concessions that developing countries, representing most of the world's people, have requested. Powerful nations have refused to stop subsidising their exports of meat, grain and sugar: by dumping them in weak countries at artificially low prices, they destroy the livelihoods of local farmers. Britain and Germany have insisted that they will not relax the laws governing the patenting of drugs: poor countries facing public health disasters will continue to be denied cheap medicine. The poor world wants the rich world to honour the promises it made under the last world trade agreement, before starting any new negotitions. Instead 'the quad' is loading the agenda with new and fiendishly complex issues, such as investment, services and government procurement."

The Nation's John Nichols reports, "President Bush's Congressional point man on free trade issues has announced that he will attempt to ram a Fast Track bill through the Congress as soon as next week... But there are already signs that the Bush camp is going to have a serious fight on its hands... Charles Rangel [D-NY] last week dispatched a blistering letter in which he dismissed Zoellick's 'Countering Terrorism With Trade' rhetoric as political posturing of the worst sort. 'Mr. Zoellick clearly is using the attack and its aftermath as leverage to pressure Democrats to support giving the president Fast Track authority,' argued Rangel. 'But this war is not about passing Fast Track trade authority.' 'Piggybacking Fast Track onto our nation's reawakened patriotic fervor,' argued U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, should be called what it is: 'shabby political profiteering.'"

As a payoff to his Mexican cronies like Vicente Fox, Shrub is pushing as hard as possible to allow dangerous, uninspected Mexican trucks to speed down America's highways, endangering American families in their cars. Senate Democrats are insisting on border inspections and US insurance for Mexican trucks, but Republicans - led by people-hating Phil Gramm (R-TX) and John McCain (R-AZ) - lost a filibuster effort by a crushing 70-30 vote. Nearly 40% of Mexican trucks fail safety inspections, compared to 25% of American trucks and 14% of Canadian trucks. Mexico is threatening retaliation against US agriculture exports under NAFTA - which is one more reason to oppose Fast Track for Bush.

The senate defeated a bid by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) to weaken proposed safety standards for Mexican trucks driven in the US. Trent Lott lamely fell back on name calling, saying Daschle was "anti-Latino," while Gramm said the regulations would violate NAFTA (huh?). Fact is, at both the Canadian-US and Mexican-US borders, the number of independent truckers in older, poorly-maintained vehicles is unacceptably high. Authorities on both sides of the Quebec-Maine border acknowledge the problem (http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/1999/11/03/truck_pq991103). Each year in Maine, several deaths are caused by unsafe pulp trucks driven by both US and Canadian truckers. In Baltimore in 200, a Canadian trucker with an improperly loaded trailer destroyed a bridge on the Beltway, killing one person. Yet because of the legal gray zone, there is little recourse in such cases. Perhaps the senate should call Bush's bluff and insist that new rules be enforced at BOTH borders.

In Bushworld, every aspect of our lives, from the water we drink to the air we breathe, will be decided by corporate lobbyists. A prime example: US trade policy makers, who are eager to slurp at the trough of foreign timber sales, have packed trade advisory committees with timber industry representatives, and locked out any scientific/environmental reps. So while the almighty dollar is well represented, no one is allowed to speak for the forests that provide the wood. Nevertheless, Earthjustice and several other groups have filed a lawsuit against the Office of US Trade Representatives and the US Dept. of Commerce. As Dan Seligman of Sierra Club said, "This is just another example of the US doing the bidding of industry and ignoring the environment in its blind pursuit of free trade." Free only to corporations - not the rest of us, or our environment.

This week, the World Trade Organization ruled that the $4 billion tax break U.S. has been enjoying on exports to Europe violates international trade rules. The U.S. may now be liable for billions in punitive duties. Bush-appointed U.S. Trade Rep. Robert B. Zoellick, who regularly browbeats other nations, notably China, about living up to fair agreements, whined to the WTO that the ruling against the U.S. "would be like using a nuclear weapon" on the global trading system. (In light of Bush's world-imperiling stance on the ABM treaty, we find this pathetically comical). Maybe Zoellick et al. should concentrate more on promoting trade at home (keeping steel workers in business, for example) and less on getting international "deals." And maybe if Bush had been willing to be part of the world community instead of dictating to it, we wouldn't be facing such problems.

First Shrub cuts a big chunk of much-needed money for farmers out of his budget. Now, he wants the same farmers to hand him a blank check, by helping him win unlimited authority to cut trade deals abroad. Bush calls this unprecedented power "fast track" - we call it a hustle. While the Democrats want to insure that future international trade pacts include strong safeguards for workers (including farmers) and the environment, Bush and the GOP see such safeguards as a pain in their greedy necks. Unfortunately, the very folks who, in an honest administration, would be looking out for American workers (Ann Veneman for example) are merely Bush wind-up toys trotted out for show. Pull their cord and they'll say whatever their spoiled little owner tells them to.

Republicans are hoping to push "fast track" trade authority through Congress this summer. Environmentalists and unions want environmental and labor standards to be fully protected in all future trade agreements. Reps. Martin Frost (D-TX) and Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) supported NAFTA without such protections, but now believe future agreements must have them. Urge your Representatives to sign on to the Frost-Pomeroy "Dear Colleague" letter.

"Security plans intended to protect Western leaders attending a trade summit in Quebec City were stolen from a car there over the weekend and posted, hours later, on a Seattle-based Web site, authorities said yesterday. On Saturday night, FBI agents raided the offices of the Independent Media Center (IMC) in downtown Seattle, according to federal sources." The IMC is a self-described "collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grass-roots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues."

The Commerce Department complains that the U.S. imports $90 billion more in goods from China than China does from the U.S., thus creating an unacceptable imbalance. But this slant is beyond spin - it's an outright lie. In reality, U.S. corporations such as Goodyear, Colgate-Palmolive and L.L. Bean use cheap Chinese Labor to produce American goods. These products are then sold back to U.S. consumers at prices that may be 10 times what the companies paid for them. This means most of the $90 billion is going not to the Chinese, but into the pockets of U.S. corporate execs. I'd say we DO owe the Chinese an apology!

In order keep labor and environmental standards out of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Bu$h substituted a "democracy clause" - which is ready to explode in Bu$h's face. The Quebec City declaration reads, "Any unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order in a state of the Hemisphere constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the participation of that state's government in the Summit of the Americas process." Well, America's "democratic order" was altered and interrupted between November 7 and December 12, 2000 - when Republicans and the Supreme Court blocked hand counting of 180,000 uncounted legal ballots in Florida in order to install Bu$h as President. We will join with environmentalists and labor unions in bringing this urgent matter to the attention of the Organization of American States (OAS), which is responsible for guaranteeing democracy in the Western hemisphere. Let's put Bu$h's "democracy clause" to the test!

"There's enough in this document to indicate that many of the traditional tools of government stand to be stripped away in the name of ensuring equal, non-discriminatory access to markets...Drastic limits are obviously being considered on the ability of governments to impose performance requirements on big investors…But the pact could wind up outlawing rules on domestic-content levels, technology transfer, local procurement or the final destination of goods and services produced. Moreover, somebody — probably the United States — is trying to replicate the [section of the NAFTA] agreement that allows corporations to sue governments, claiming discriminatory treatment…this amounts to a hemispheric charter of rights for entities that are not even parties to the agreement, and who are not obliged to take on any duties or responsibilities in return...Why, on the face of it, should the chapter assure investors' rights and not workers' rights? Or basic human rights, for that matter?"