US, OAS Members Sign New Environmental Agreements

VOA News ^ | February 18, 2005 | VOA News

[average american student]

The United States and six members of the Organization of American States have signed new agreements on trade and the environment.

The agreements are aimed at strengthening environmental protection and creating a Secretariat for Environmental Matters to help implement the environmental provisions of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The accords were signed in Washington D.C. Friday by senior representatives of the governments of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States.

[Dog Gone]

Of course there are costs involved. The goal of "free trade" is the elimination of the tariffs which make trade prohibitive.

[concrete is my business]

You are right. My point is for the actual partys involved, the costs are often just shifted to a different column on the invoice. In my experience, real costs are not necessarily lowered and with Canadian-USA trade many costs have gone up. We had tons of duty free goods before NAFTA.

[Dog Gone]

CAFTA does not change any immigration laws. It even goes out of its way to state that explicitly.

[demlosers]

Unfortunately, I see none have replied so I guess they didn't think they had to read anything factual that might conflict with their knee-jerk hand-wringing.

Yes, I had to read (some) it before I passed some type of judgment. To sum up CAFTA: trading without tariffs - good news for the free traders.

We are a suspicious lot here when it comes to international agreements and treatise - we don't trust any politician, may they trade on our Constitution.

[Kaslin]

Your title is misleading. Where does it say the president signed CAFTA?

[hedgetrimmer]

CAFTA requires that each nation enforce its own environmental laws

From the text of CAFTA. It requires that countries participating in it PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. IMPLEMENT this Agreement in a manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation, promote sustainable development, and strengthen their cooperation on environmental matters;

Sustainable development is a framework for a socialist system that uses the environment to take away property rights and undermine our Constitutional goverment. There are many many threads on this site that discuss sustainable development in depth and how it has affected our property rights, our education system, our system of laws and our sovereignty.

If you read the CAFTA agreement and understand the meaning of the words it uses, you will understand it gives central American countries signing up to it a legal means to affect US law in a number of areas through the tribunuals of the WTO and other INTERNATIONAL BODIES.

You haven't read the CAFTA have you? Plenty people on this site have read some or all of what the USTR cares to make public. There is PLENTY for sovereign Americans to fear in that unConstitutional trade agreement.

It is also a set up for creating a socialist union of states exactly like the European Union via the FTAA:

RECOGNIZE the interest of the Central American Parties in strengthening and
deepening their regional economic integration; and CONTRIBUTE to hemispheric integration and provide an impetus toward establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas;
Economic integration is one step to the western hemispheric government.
Unlimited migration into the US is another.

[NMC EXP]

Your title is misleading. Where does it say the president signed CAFTA?

1) The title says "signs on to CAFTA" it does not say "signed".

2) "signs on to" means tacit or explicit approval not a signature.

3) If you think bush's trade entourage agreed to the documents in question without bush's sanction and approval you are to put it kindly, mistaken.

4) Stand on your own hind legs and debate the issue - don't run to the AM.

Sheesh.

[hedgetrimmer]

That's correct. But the important point is that it phases out the tariffs on American exports to those countries, which means we will sell more to them.

Their purchasing power is miniscule. What this agreement does is open up the Carribean as another path for China to flood the US markets with their products, especially textiles.

There is an extremely unhealthy favoritism in this administration toward China:

And the United States, China's Cold War enemy, is benignly watching the Asian economic superpower move into its backyard.

For decades China and Taiwan used dollar diplomacy to win over small Caribbean nations where small projects building roads, bridges, wells and fisheries go a long way.

But Beijing's growing economic clout is tipping the scales in the region.

Caribbean trade with China reached $2 billion last year, a 42.5 percent increase from 2003, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States has applauded China's economic offensive, seeing it as a herald of political reform.

"China's intensified interest in the Western Hemisphere does not imply a lack of focus by the United States," Roger Noriega, the U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in a recent letter to the editor of New Jersey's Newark Star Ledger.

"The United States has long stood for expansion of global trade and consolidating democracy."

This year, two Caribbean countries -- Dominica and Grenada -- switched allegiance to China, abandoning Taiwan, which China calls "a renegade province."

***
China is winning the geopolitical games. The US is giving away the store.

[hedgetrimmer]

United States and Central America Sign Historic Free Trade Agreement
05/28/2004

Tariffs on 80% of U.S. Exports to Central America are Eliminated Immediately

WASHINGTON – U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and Ministers of five Central American countries today signed the U.S. Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) a historic agreement that will eliminate tariffs and trade barriers and expand regional opportunities for the workers, manufacturers, consumers, farmers, ranchers and service providers of all the countries.

“For the United States, the signing of CAFTA opens a new chapter in the history of our relationship with Central America. CAFTA will put the U.S. relationship with Central America on a more solid mutual foundation, firmly grounded in our shared commitment to democracy, free markets, free people, and hope,” said Zoellick.

The signing of the final agreement, a 2,400 page document, took place in the Hall of the Americas at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS), where President Bush first announced his plan to negotiate an FTA with Central America during a speech in January 2002.

http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2004/May/United_States_Central_America_Sign_Historic_Free_Trade_Agreement.html

[hedgetrimmer]

Why don't you read one of the agreements sometime. Maybe you could post the text. Readers will see for themselves that the agreements are only about trade in a small part. The other purposes of the agreements are clear, if you would only read them.

[hedgetrimmer]

I might add, that the office of Trade Minister is unConstitutional, and if Congress had not abdicate their authority to regulate trade, Roberty Zoellick would not be able to sign anything. But there it is, from the US Trade Representatives office, Zoellick signs, Bush fasttracks, congress and the American people are shoved out of the loop.

The thing IS signed. The USTR says so.

[NMC EXP]

The signing of the final agreement, a 2,400 page document

1) "Agreement" - not a treaty therby bypassing the Constitution's requirement for a 2/3's senate vote to ratify.

2) "2,400 page" - which means it ain't about free trade. That would take one paragraph.

[Eva]

This treaty will effect a lot more than trade. It will strengthen our ties to Central America before Chavez widens his grasp to alienate them. You can be sure that Chavez intends to expand beyond his current borders, it is just a matter of time.

[hedgetrimmer]

"Agreement" - not a treaty therby bypassing the Constitution's requirement for a 2/3's senate vote to ratify.

Treaty language is embedded in the 2400 pages, which is the stealh method used to override constitutional protections. In fact many trade agreements sign on to implement UN rules, ILO labor regulations for example. Read the text for the Australia America FTA to see it.

[hedgetrimmer]

Its going to make us more vulnerable to Chavez. He has already begun to form South American trading blocs, one called ALBA. This means countries siding with Chavez will still have unlimited immigration into the US when the FTAA is signed. Its is opening the door for a literal invasion of enemies to free society. Don't think for a minute they will play nice, with China's help, they will wreak havoc whenever they can.

[Kaslin]

1) The title says "signs on to CAFTA" it does not say "signed".

I was using the past tense, so it is irrelevant. The title in the thread is still misleading because the title in the article of VOA News says US, OAS Members Sign New Environmental Agreements and at the last paragraph it says:

The accords were signed in Washington D.C. Friday by senior representatives of the governments of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States.

It does not say the president signed it. and by the way I was correct when I said the title is misleading.

Read the article, and not just what you want to see

[verity]

What is a Secretariat?

It was the name of a race horse.

[hedgetrimmer]

The NAFTA secretariat is defined as:

The NAFTA Secretariat, comprised of a Canadian Section, a Mexican Section and a United States Section, is responsible for the administration of the dispute settlement provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

[verity]

Where is your sense of humor?

[hedgetrimmer]

I think JustAnotherSavage was interested in a serious answer. No offense to you.