Scary Kerry: Meaner U.S. Enforcement of WTO Intellectual Property Rules

Includes text and link to Kerry policy/strategy statement on IP/WTO and comments on generic drugs access/global AIDS treatment access.

John Kerry is more scary every day. Last week he went out of his way to congratulate Israel for their latest “extrajudicial assassination” of a Palestinian leader. A few days later he supported expanding the war in Iraq and sending more troops.

A few weeks ago I took my eleven year old to a Kerry rally in deindustrialized Bethlehem, PA. No, I did not take her so she could witness US politics in action, or see the man up close. I took her because I wanted to bird dog the candidate on his global AIDS position. Lots of college students have been attending presidential candidate events, demanding that they publicly articulate a reasonable response to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises ever. They have succeeded in elevating the sophistication of global AIDS discussion and won some on-the-record commitments for increased funding and better policies. National media have covered groups of AIDS activists repeatedly. Our small part was to keep the pressure on Kerry during our visit to my old college friend in Bethlehem.

During Kerry’s sympathetic discussion about job loss and global trade he mentioned CAFTA and how its provisions could further harm PA workers. Ah ha, opportunity to bird dog on regional trade pacts and access to medicines, I think… So as the applause dies down I shout “Excuse me, Senator, CAFTA will affect the ability of people in Central America to get essential medicines for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and HIV. Please tell us about how you will work to make sure that generic drug trade is promoted so people can get affordable medicines. It’s true that trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA hurt people here in the US, but they also hurt people in developing countries, people around the world.. and (earnestly) WE CARE.” The laid off steel workers and community college students applauded this affirmation of solidarity with ordinary people in other countries. And Kerry said (earnestly) “Yes, we do care… Let me finish talking about this …and I’ll get back to your point”… Eventually with more shouting out from me (which felt rude, but he did say he would get back to me and he didn’t)… we had something of a back and forth on generic drug access – bottom line is, he absolutely would NOT commit to addressing generic drug access with international trade agreement policy revision. He made some vague references to changing domestic patent rules (???) and building some large scale drug donation program. He said you don’t need to even talk about global trade to address this issue – I shouted out impulsively, “so are you suggesting that we abolish the World Trade Organization?” No, he responded, he wasn’t suggesting that……

April 29, 2004 Voila – Kerry’s new call to action>>>> Trade Enforcement: Asleep at the Wheel
Now Kerry is calling for the U.S. to wield the weapon of stronger World Trade Organization enforcement against developing countries. He claims that Bush is soft on trade rule violations by other countries and plans to increase funding to the US Trade Representative for increased WTO activities and review/enforcement of trade policies.

Kerry’s number one trade enforcement intervention will be to reinstate the Reagan-initiated “Special 301” process for removing foreign barriers to U.S. corporate trading interests. Special 301 involves punishing countries that are accused of violating intellectual property trade rules, and includes unilateral U.S.-imposed tariffs on exports from ‘violating’ countries. One source for information on global trade and intellectual property is: http://www.cptech.org/ip/

I am writing about this latest Kerry statement because it relates to, among other things, generic medication access in developing countries. I think it would be worthwhile to pay attention to this Kerry strategy paper and hear comments on how his plans to attack intellectual property ‘violators’ will impact other areas we care about – Agriculture and food? Software? Music and arts? And, who is he fooling that stronger WTO-style global trade police will lead to good jobs in the U.S. or anywhere else? The WTO is a failed institution (actually opponents prevented it from ever becoming institutionalized). This is where Kerry sees a better future?

Many public health crises –including the AIDS pandemic that kills 6,000 people every day, most needlessly – could be effectively addressed with affordable high quality generic drugs that are being produced in large quantities by manufacturers in Brazil, South Africa, India and other places. The potential for effective treatment in developing countries exists – it has been blocked every step of the way by greedy pharmaceutical companies, starting with attacks on Brazil and South Africa in the 1990’s when both countries began to implement domestic antiretroviral drug production and price control policies to enhance broad treatment access. (Attacks continue today, despite significant victories by mass treatment access movements in places like South Africa – the most recent incarnation involving the Bush Administration’s bilateral AIDS program, headed by a drug company CEO, that shuns generic drug treatment under pressure from pharmaceutical interests).

South Africa was placed on the Special 301 list in 1998.
On 18 February 1998 forty-two pharmaceutical manufacturers and their
trade organisations brought suit against the Government of the Republic
of South Africa alleging that the Medicines and Related Substances
Control Amendment Act, No. 90 of 1997 is unconstitutional.
This legislation aims to address the growing crisis of lack of access to
affordable medicine in South Africa by promoting the use of generic
medicines and by permitting the parallel importation of medicines. On 5
March 2001, this case will be heard in front of the High Court in
Pretoria, South Africa.
In 1998 the action of the pharmaceutical companies was supported by the
US Government, which placed South Africa on the Special 301 Watch List. (From 2001 MSF(Doctors Without Borders)letter to European Commissioner)

Brazil was threatened with Special 301 status in the late 1990’s when Brazil showed global leadership in making anti-HIV drugs available for the population:
“Political, economic, and legal pressure from the
United States Government over Brazil’s IP rules is
not unprecedented. The subject has been a source of
tension since the 1980s, and on several occasions the
USTR has threatened or applied unilateral trade
sanctions on Brazil. The USTR has exerted similar
pressure on other countries, such as Thailand and the
Dominican Republic, in disagreements concerning
pharmaceutical products. The United States’ principal
weapon has been the “Special 301” provision of
the country’s Trade Act, which allows the United
States to impose tariffs unilaterally on a country’s exports
to the United States if adequate IP standards
are not met.” (See Pan-American Public Health Journal 2001 excellent, readable review of how Brazil has been able to effectively provide universal HIV treatment despite serious international trade obstacles and relentless attacks from U.S. based pharmaceutical companies. http://www.paho.org/English/DBI/ES/v9n5-TEMA-Brazil.pdf )

Special 301 punishment in the generic medicines context seems to have receded in the last few years under pressure from popular campaigns that publicly shamed the industry’s naked attacks on public health as illustrated in the South Africa example, in particular. However the pharmaceutical industry remains extremely powerful and would no doubt be very happy to enlist a new presidential mandate to shore up intellectual property protection in places like India and Brazil (see the Kerry plan below).

From John Kerry Campaign http://www.johnkerry.com/features/trade/
Trade Enforcement: Asleep at the Wheel
Executive Summary
America must engage in a global economy but cannot do so without enforcing our existing trade agreements. Trade enforcement is something that all Americans – business and labor, Democrats and Republicans – should all be able to agree on. Unfortunately, President Bush has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to enforcing our existing trade agreements. “Asleep at the Wheel” documents President Bush’s failure to enforce our trade agreements and outlines John Kerry’s six-point plan to enforce our trade agreements. Among the report’s findings are:
• George Bush is on track to become the first President since Herbert Hoover to preside over a reduction in exports in his term, adjusted for inflation.
• On average, the Clinton Administration brought more trade enforcement cases to the WTO each year than the Bush Administration has brought in more than three years in office.
• Under President Bush, America has become a Punching Bag: The US has been the target of almost one-third of all WTO cases filed since January 2001.
• After finding scores of Chinese WTO rule violations in 2001, 2002, and again in 2003, the Administration waited until March 2004 to file its first case against China
• Each year in office, the Bush Administration has sought to gut funding for US efforts to support workers’ rights and combat abusive child labor around the world.
John Kerry Has a Six-Point Plan to Enforce our Trade Agreements:
1. Immediate Reinstatement of the “Super 301” process to force the Bush Administration to report and act on foreign trade barriers.
2. A 120-day review of all existing trade agreements.
3. Immediate investigation into China’s worker rights abuses, and stepped up funding for worker’s rights and anti-abusive child labor efforts.
4. Increased resources for trade enforcement and action at the WTO
5. Structural Reforms to Enhance Small Business and High-Tech Trade Enforcement Capacity
6. More Forceful Efforts to Stop Illegal Currency Manipulation
I. INTRODUCTION
A vital component of John Kerry’s vision for America’s economic future is a commitment to actively engage in the global economy, by seeking new markets for our products and services and by working to build stronger ties with our trading partners. This global commitment is part of a larger economic growth strategy that John Kerry believes will help unleash the potential of the American economy and create new jobs and prosperity for America’s working families.
But for the global economy to work for America’s families, farmers and businesses, we also need leaders willing to fight for a level playing field. We know that when Americans have an equal footing, they can compete and win against anyone in the world. The American economy has performed well below its potential over the past three years in part because the Bush Administration has failed to enforce our trade laws and agreements. This failure threatens to break the public’s faith in the promise of global growth and the prosperity that trade can foster.
John Kerry will lead with a firm but even hand on trade, and make clear that when the US enters into trade agreements, we will expect our trading partners to live up to their side of the bargain. He will strongly enforce our trade laws and insist that all new trade agreements include strong labor and environmental provisions in the core of the agreements.
This report details how for three years and three months, while our economy has hemorrhaged 2.8 million manufacturing jobs and faced a dramatic deterioration in our trade position, George W. Bush has been asleep at the wheel in enforcing our trade agreements. Year after year, he has consistently failed to represent US interests in the global economy: by downplaying enforcement, by taking a particularly weak posture with China, by moving backwards on worker rights, and by showing indifference to critical high-tech and intellectual property concerns. The result has been not only a loss of confidence in trade policy, but lost jobs, lost opportunities for export growth and missed chances to create new, higher-wage jobs for Americans.
• George Bush will be the first President since Herbert Hoover to lose jobs during his term, and is likely to become the first President since the Great Depression to preside over a loss in real-dollar exports during his term. In contrast, most post-WW II Presidential terms have seen 15%-30% real export growth. Since 2000, US exports to the EU have fallen by $15 billion and to Japan have fallen by $13 billion.
• Under President Bush, record half-trillion dollar trade deficits coupled with a massive fiscal deterioration have made us increasingly reliant on foreign creditors. Forty percent of our public debt is now held outside the US; more than 20% in Japan and China alone.
• Foreign direct investment into the US has deteriorated dramatically under Bush, from a net inflow of over $40 billion in 2001 to a net outflow of nearly $64 billion in 2003. In 2002, for the first time in history, China received more foreign direct investment flows than the US, much of it in manufacturing.
II. THE BUSH RECORD ON TRADE ENFORCEMENT
1. Refusing to Stick Up for Workers Through the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism: Utilizing the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is a widely recognized way of helping reach negotiated solutions favorable to US interests and of demonstrating the US’s seriousness about trade enforcement. Filing WTO cases is not about litigation for litigations sake – indeed, 75% of WTO cases are resolved before litigation is even completed – but about helping secure American rights, sparking growth and helping create higher-wage jobs. The Bush Administration’s record demonstrates a dramatic decline in the use of the WTO mechanism, even for the most well-documented trade violations that the Administration itself has identified in its annual trade barriers reports.
o The Bush Administration has filed only 10 cases with the WTO in more than three years – an average of about 3 per year.
o On average, the Clinton Administration brought more cases to the WTO each year than the Bush Administration has brought in more than three years in office: In the six years from the WTO’s creation in 1995 to 2000, the Clinton Administration brought 65 cases – an average of 11 per year.
o This contrast reflects more than “pent-up demand” in the first few years after the creation of the WTO in 1995, as Bush Administration officials have argued. In its final three years and three months in office, the Clinton Administration filed 32 WTO cases – more than three times as many as Bush has filed over the same time period.
2. Allowing the US to Be a Punching Bag in the Global Trading System: The Administration’s unwillingness to assert our nation’s rights and act on the well-documented trade violations may be encouraging other countries to target the US. Indeed, the Bush Administration has allowed the US to become a punching bag for a constant stream of cases brought by our trading partners over the past three years:
o The US has been the target of almost one-third of all WTO cases filed since January 2001: While the Bush Administration has filed only 10 cases, our trading partners have brought 32 cases against the US. These cases have been brought by our largest trading partners and our closest competitors, including Canada (eight cases), Brazil (five cases), the EU (five cases), Mexico (four cases), South Korea (two cases), Japan (two cases), China (one case) India (one case), New Zealand (one case), Taiwan (one case).
o From 1995-2000, the Clinton Administration filed 14 more WTO cases than all our trading partners filed against the US combined: During the 1990s, our trading partners were not shy about filing cases against the US, initiating 49 from 1995-2000. Yet with an Administration willing to represent the rights of US workers in the global trading system, the US government filed 65 WTO cases against our trading partners during that period.
3. A Passive, Politicized Approach to China: The Bush Administration’s last-minute announcement of agreements negotiated through the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) last week cannot hide the fact that for three years and three months this Administration has turned a blind eye to the damage that China’s persistent trade violations have done to our economy. It is not altogether surprising that after being allowed to manipulate its currency, violate WTO rules, and ignore rampant piracy in intellectual property for three years, China might want to offer the Bush Administration an election-year boost, knowing that a Bush victory would mean four more years of lax-enforcement-as-usual policies. But paper maché agreements and election year engineering only serve to weaken the credibility of the Bush Administration’s commitment to enforcing our trade laws with China.
o The Administration’s annual National Trade Estimates in 2001, 2002 and 2003 have reported scores of China WTO rule violations, including various market access restrictions on cotton, poultry, soybeans, and wheat as well as high technology products; flagrant disregard for intellectual property rules; failure to open up trading and distribution rights; restrictions on service suppliers; and the use of customs valuations procedures and value-added taxes to block U.S. exports.
o Yet in 2001, 2002, and again in 2003, the Administration took only limited and partial action, applicable to only a select few industries, and waited until March 2004 to file its first WTO case, against China’s discriminatory tax policies on foreign semiconductor producers. Each year of inaction has sent the wrong message to China and allowed a culture of noncompliance to emerge in the critical first three years of China’s WTO membership. The Administration’s own USTR admitted that 2003 was “a year in which China’s WTO implementation efforts lost a significant amount of momentum.” [Freeman, Charles. “Testimony to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, February 2004]
o Special China Safeguards: The President has maintained a consistent record of denying relief to US workers and businesses injured by surges of imports from China, despite the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs and a ballooning $124 billion trade deficit with China. One of the reasons Senator Kerry was willing to support China’s entry into the WTO in 2000, was because the Clinton Administration went back to the negotiating table a second time to ensure there were strong safeguard provisions in place to protect US workers and industries from excessive surges of Chinese exports or unfair dumping practices. Yet three times in recent years the independent International Trade Commission (ITC) found that surges in Chinese imports had harmed US industries and the President has failed to provide US manufacturers with relief.
o Special China Textile Safeguards: The President waited for 17 months after China’s WTO accession, during a period when our economy lost more than a million Manufacturing jobs, to even issue procedures for how US firms could petition for special textile safeguards. Not only did Bush wait until May 2003 to outline how firms could apply for the special procedures that the Clinton Administration negotiated into the China WTO agreement, but the procedures implemented severely restricted US firms’ ability to employ the safeguards. [US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “Transmittal Letter to Congress,” March 4, 2004]
o The Administration’s recently announced intellectual property agreement with China comes after three years when the Administration allowed flagrant Chinese violations to come at the expense of jobs in America’s most innovative industries. Losses to US companies from software piracy in China have more than doubled under President Bush. Software piracy rates are now above 90% in China, and losses from piracy to US companies rose to more than $2.5 billion in 2003. We need tough enforcement, not token, election-year agreements.
o The new intellectual property agreement substitutes an “action plan” for real enforceable action, and vague assertions for measurable results. The Bush Administration and China announced what they claim to be a “landmark” initiative on intellectual property enforcement. Yet the agreement leaves out important issues, contains no timetables, and has no new remedies should China fail to act. For example:
o All of China’s 71 known optical disc factories – with over 500 separate production lines - engage in piracy. The new ‘action plan’ includes no firm commitment, with timetables and guarantees, for cleaning up or closing these factories and destroying machines producing pirate works.
o China’s commitment to conclude international internet treaties “as soon as possible” is a promise made and broken before, and came this time with no firm date or timetable. China’s willingness to suspend plans to implement a mandatory WAPI wireless encryption standard represents the postponement of what would have been WTO-illegal action, not new progress forward.
o Despite widespread agreement that China, as well as Japan and other Asian economies, is holding its currency artificially low to gain competitive advantage, the Bush Administration waited for nearly 3 years and 3 million lost manufacturing jobs before even raising the issue with the Chinese government: Economists have found that China’s currency is undervalued by estimates that average approximately 27.5%. While China recently indicated that, after putting US producers at an unfair price disadvantage for three years, they may now be considering a moderate value increase, this would still leave US goods at a significant price disadvantage and would put US jobs at risk.
4. Ignoring Other Trade Violations that Hurt US Workers: While any Administration has to use their judgment in prioritizing enforcement actions, the Bush Administration has failed to represent the national economic interest in cases where major trading partners are consistently violating trade agreements. Following the release of the annual National Trade Estimate last month, a number of House Democrats expressed concern that the Administration’s reactive posture in a number of priority areas had led key trading partners to continue violating trade laws. Among the examples cited were:
o India’s Abuse of Copyright and Trademark Laws: The International Intellectual Property Rights Alliance estimates that US firms lose $500 million a year because of piracy in India, and software piracy is up 40% since the end of the Clinton Administration. India has refused to recognize many US trademarks and holds the use of trademarks by foreign firms contingent on investing in technology in India. India is widely recognized as one of the worst offenders of WTO TRIPS rules, but has received no action under the Bush Administration.
o Japan’s Non-Tariff Barriers in the Auto Industry: Japanese non-tariff barriers restricting imports of US automobiles and auto parts have led to a $38 billion US trade deficit in automobiles and auto parts with Japan – over half of our entire trade deficit with the country. Since 2000, auto parts exports to Japan have declined by 25% while automobile exports have declined by almost 40%. Despite purported reforms, because the Japanese government has replaced official barriers with less formal restrictions like limiting the number of “certified” garages in the country that can use foreign parts. These restrictions are in violation of WTO rules, and are also candidates for Section 301 investigations. Despite the challenges experienced by the domestic auto industry in the US, the Bush Administration has completely failed to take any action in this vital area in recent years.
o South Korea’s Auto Market: South Korea continues to impose 8 different taxes on imported passenger cars, two of which are targeted at cars with larger engines – a clear example of trying to block particularly US but also EU producers. The cumulative effect can be an 85% price disadvantage – one of the main reasons that the South Korean car market remains one of the most protected in the world. The initial progress made by the Clinton Administration through agreements with South Korea in 1995 and 1998 have been abandoned by the Bush Administration, and no new action has been taken.
5. Moving Backward on Enforcing Workers’ Rights: After years of progress, particularly in the later years of the Clinton Administration, in strengthening the labor standards and provisions to support workers rights in our trade agreements, the Bush Administration has taken us in the opposite direction. Worker rights are important to help ensure that trade is lifting the wages and living standards of all workers in developing countries and that competition is based on legitimate issues of quality and cost, not the suppression of workers rights and living standards.
o The Bush Administration insisted on weakening the landmark Jordan Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the Clinton Administration – the first Free Trade Agreement to include enforceable protections for workers’ rights in its core. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick wrote an open letter to the Jordanian government pledging not to use the agreed provisions for enforcement of worker’s rights: “[M]y Government would not expect or intend to apply the Agreement’s dispute settlement enforcement procedures,” Zoellick wrote. [Zoellick, Robert. “Letter to His Excellency Marwan Muasher, Jordanian Ambassador to the United States,” July 2001]
o The Administration’s Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) moves backwards from the progress made in the Jordan agreement. The Jordan Agreement to ensure enforcement of domestic labor laws was path-breaking not only because it resided in the core of the agreement, but because Jordan’s existing laws respected the internationally recognized core labor standards, including the right to collectively bargain. The Bush Administration has misused this “enforce your own laws” approach in negotiations with a set of Central American countries, some of which have domestic laws that are significantly weaker than the international core standards and have a long history of non-enforcement. [see Human Rights Watch, “CAFTA’s Weak Labor Rights Protection,” March 2004; and US Department of State, “2003 Human Rights Report for Guatemala,” February 2004].
o Each year in office, the Administration has sought to gut funding to prevent the worst labor rights abuses around the world by calling for gutting the Labor Department’s international program to support workers’ rights and combat abusive child labor. President Bush’s 2002 budget request proposed slashing funding for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) by more than half, from $149 million to $71.6 million. His 2004 request proposed reducing ILAB’s funding to only $12.3 million. This year, the administration proposed funding ILAB at only $30.5 million, compared to an actual 2004 funding level of $109.9 – a reduction of $79.4 million.
o President Bush kicked all labor representatives off his President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, and had to be sued before he complied with the law by naming one union representative to the Committee. [Ellis, Kristi. “Union Sues Bush Over Trade Panel,” WWD, December 23, 2002].
6. Ignoring Intellectual Property Violations Around the World: Despite well-documented abuses by our trading partners, the Bush Administration has abdicated its responsibility to enforce trade agreements in the vitally important area of intellectual property. Worldwide commercial losses due to piracy of business software have jumped 45%, topping $4 billion in 2002 and 2003. Music piracy is up 26%, and movie piracy is up 20%. [International Intellectual Property Association, “Special 301 Report,” April 2004]
o The Administration’s USTR acknowledged that “piracy and counterfeiting of US intellectual property remain unacceptably high,” in a number of key trading countries: In its 2003 “Special 301” report, the USTR found that, despite some progress, many of our most important trading partners are systematically abusing intellectual property rights laws, including the EU, China, Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Russian and members of the Andean Community. [United States Trade Representative, “2003 Special 301 Report,” p. 1, May 2003]
o Yet the Bush Administration has failed to initiate a single dispute settlement proceeding involving intellectual property to the WTO. The only concrete action in this area has been $75 million in sanctions against the Ukraine. The USTR’s 2003 special report on intellectual property simply states that the US will remain open to considering “all options,” to address the issue. [United States Trade Representative, “2003 Special 301 Report,” p. 8, May 2003]
7. Letting our Trading Partners off the Hook While Depriving Struggling US Workers and Businesses: In FY 2003, the US failed to collect $130 million in antidumping duties – more than $100 million due from China – that were due to US workers and firms injured by dumping activities. The Administration has done little to address the collection problem, despite vocal calls to strengthen our compliance and collection capabilities. Regardless of what steps may be determined necessary for WTO compliance, it should not stop us from collecting the duties already owed and distributing them to the US workers and firms that have been expecting in good faith to receive such funds.
III. JOHN KERRY’S PLAN TO REASSERT OUR RIGHTS IN THE GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM
As President, John Kerry will take our country in a different direction on trade enforcement. Rather than turn a blind eye to clear trade violations when American jobs are on the line, John Kerry will make clear through his actions that when the US enters into a trade agreement, we will expect our partners to live up to their side of the deal. He will strongly enforce the rules our trade agreements contain. The Bush Administration has moved us backward from the progress we made in the Clinton Administration in getting to the labor provisions included the Jordan Agreement. John Kerry believe we should build upon and strengthen the progress made in the Jordan agreement in terms of including strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in the core of new trade agreements.
Today, Senator Kerry is announcing a six-part plan to reassert our rights in the global economy and ensure a level playing field for American workers and businesses. The plan calls for immediate action to force the Bush Administration to take trade enforcement seriously right now and outlines the steps that Senator Kerry will take as President to improve trade enforcement. Here are the specific components of his plan:
1. Immediate Reinstatement of the “Super 301” Process to Force the Bush Administration to Report and Act on Foreign Trade Barriers: John Kerry calls on Congress to immediately reinstate the “Super 301” process, which would require the USTR to issue a special report on trade barriers to US exports and work under specific timetables to eliminate such barriers or establish compensatory trade benefits. This mechanism, originally signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1988 and extended on multiple occasions during the Clinton Administration, was allowed to expire by the Bush Administration in 2002, which, because of the Administration’s complete failure to enforce trade laws on its own, has been extremely harmful. Super 301 is an urgently-needed wake up call to help force this Administration to make immediate progress on addressing foreign trade barriers that are hurting American industries and their workers.
2. 120-Day Review of All Existing Trade Agreements. As President, John Kerry will order an immediate 120 day review of all existing trade agreements to ensure that our trade partners are living up to their obligations and that trade agreements are being enforced and they are working as anticipated. He will consider necessary steps if they are not. And John Kerry will not sign any new trade agreements until the review is complete.
3. Stepped-Up Action to Strengthen Worker’s Rights and Stamp Out Abusive Child Labor. Senator Kerry calls for a number of concrete steps to strengthen workers rights around the world:
o Immediate Investigation into China’s Repression of Workers Rights: Senator Kerry urges the Administration to accept the currently pending Section 301 Petition submitted by the AFL-CIO on China’s denial of basic worker rights, and to investigate these troubling charges and their effect on the US economy. Senator Kerry urges the President to ensure completion of the investigation within the six-month time frame that applies under the “special 301” process for priority foreign countries, with the clock starting today.
o Annual Review on Progress Toward Internationally Recognized Core Labor Rights: He will initiate an annual review of progress toward establishing core labor rights around the world. The internationally recognized core labor rights are the prohibitions on discrimination in employment, slave labor and abusive child labor, and the rights to associate and bargain collectively.
o Immediate 50% Increase in Funding for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB): Senator Kerry will reverse the Bush Administration’s draconian cuts to the ILAB budget by calling for an immediate 50% increase in funds to support basic workers’ rights and stamp out abusive child labor.
4. Increased Resources for Trade Enforcement and Action at the WTO: While Administrations must evaluate each trade issue on a case-by-case basis and prioritize enforcement action, John Kerry will actively pursue America’s trading interests and aggressively file WTO cases where appropriate. To strengthen our government’s capacity to enforce trade agreements, Senator Kerry will double the USTR’s trade enforcement budget, which would reverse the 6% funding cut for the overall agency that President Bush proposed in his FY 2005 budget.
5. Structural Reforms to Enhance Small Business and High-Tech Trade Enforcement Capacity: Senator Kerry will make it easier for small and medium sized businesses to access our trade laws through the creation of a dedicated Small Business Advocacy Office at USTR, and will call on the NEC and NSC to create an inter-agency taskforce on enforcement in new, complex high-tech industries. The goal of these efforts is not to increase litigation, but to ensure that our trading partners are not preying on our small businesses or capturing unfair advantages in new industries that are not-yet fully understood.
6. More Forceful Efforts to Stop Illegal Currency Manipulation. As President, John Kerry will not wait for three years to get tough with countries like China and Japan that have purposely kept their currency undervalued relative to the U.S. dollar, and will not be satisfied with token actions that continue to leave US exporters at a serious price disadvantage.