David Sirota

This is the fourth in a series of posts following the announcement of a secret free trade deal this past week between a handful of senior Democrats and the Bush administration.

It is now five days since a handful of senior Democrats joined with the Bush administration to announce a new “deal” on free trade, while refusing to release the actual legislative language of the deal. Today, environmental and health advocates have come out slamming the deal, noting like other grassroots groups that what the deal doesn’t cover says as much about its potential problems as does the secrecy the deal is shrouded in. Here’s today’s update.

MCCRERY - PERU AND PANAMA WILL BE RAMMED THROUGH CONGRESS BY AUGUST: CongressDaily reports that House Ways and Means ranking member Jim McCrery (R-LA) “said last week’s bipartisan agreement on a framework for trade agreements smoothes the way for trade deals with Peru and Panama to pass with strong House majorities.” He said, “My hope is we will have the two on the floor before we leave for the August break, but that may be ambitious.” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is still saying he thinks he can only attract at most less than a majority of his own caucus, even though he is pushing forward with the secret deal. Inexplicably, McCrery additionally said that the Peru trade agreement - whose text is being kept secret - would have to be changed and approved by Peru in a legally binding way, but “in a way that does not require Peru’s political system to revisit the deal all over again” (so much for that thing called “democracy” when it gets in K Street’s way).

NAM URGES RANGEL TO “STAND UP TO THE LEFTIES”: The National Association of Manufacturers, which has long pushed for trade deals that incentivize job outsourcing, published a blog post on its website congratulating Rep. Charlie Rangel (D) for negotiating the secret deal, and specifically urging him to “stands his ground against the withering barrage he’ll get from some of the lefties.”

LEADING ADVOCATE FOR PATENT REFORM RAISES RED FLAGS: James Love, one of the nation’s leading advocates for drug patent reform, issued a press release through his organization Knowledge Ecology International raising significant red flags about the secret deal. He said that many of the most important provisions are “unfortunately bound to a poorly drafted side letter, rather than a plain language [in the trade deals’ text] that makes it clear that countries can waive or limit the exclusive right when it is necessary to protect patient interests.” Additionally, he said the deal “does not address the current problem of USTR attacking countries for actually using such measures as compulsory licensing of patents” when trading partner countries (such as Thailand) face public health crises.

AIDS GROUPS DECRY SECRECY OF DEAL, DEBUNK MYTHS: A group of organizations that fight AIDS in the developing world issued a press release decrying the secretive process by which the deal was negotiated and the concealment of the trade deals’ legislative language, nothing that “details and specificity are of crucial importance.” The groups also note that “it is not true, as some news accounts have suggested, that the May 11 deal will limit brand-name drug companies’ patent and related monopolies.”

LEADING ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SAY DEAL IS “NOT SUFFICIENT”: Leading environmental groups Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club issued a joint statement saying that “although last week’s agreement reflects progress on environmental issues in the Peru and Panama FTAs, it is not a sufficient template for trade agreements generally or for presidential trade negotiating authority.” The groups said the secret trade deal “will still provide foreign corporations the right to directly attack public health and environmental measures, and will not fully protect environmental laws from other trade challenges.”

DLC ATTACKS TRADE CRITICS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES RESPOND BY FLOCKING TO DLC CONFERENCE: The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that the Democratic Leadership Council, which endorsed the secret deal and which has long pushed lobbyist-written trade deals like NAFTA and China PNTR, just released an op-ed attacking free trade critics. Days after the report was made public, the group announced that leading Democratic presidential contenders will be speaking at the DLC’s annual conference this year in June.

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THE SECRET DEAL - DAY 5: Health & Enviro Advocates Slam the Deal