Bill Meyers for Congress!

1st Congressional District of California, November 2004 election

Green Party Primary, March 2004

World Trade

More Issues

The American people are suffering from trade agreements enacted during the Clinton presidency, supported by my incumbent opponent, and being extended by the George W. Bush administration.

These trade agreements (the WTO, NAFTA, and FTAA) are an instrument of economic warfare against working and middle-class Americans. The Thompson-Clinton team sent well-paying U.S. factory jobs to China and replaced them with Mac Jobs. The Thompson-Bush team has accelerated the trend to the point that well-paying engineering and computer programming jobs are being sent to India, while providing U.S. workers with Wal-jobs.

This is great for international corporations and the millionaire to billionaire class, but it is insane for the rest of us. As your Congressman I would seek to immediately withdraw the U.S. from the WTO, NAFTA, and FTAA and institute economically sound trade policies.

The key points of my program would be:

• Do not allow unfair foreign competition. Require that all imported goods be produced by workers who are getting at least an international minimum wage (probably $1 per hour to start).
• Keep jobs in the U.S. Require a license for any job removal from the United States, with sufficient fees being paid to provide unemployment, retraining, and job placement benefits for all workers whose jobs are lost.
• Do not allow any item to be imported into the U.S. that is produced with lower safety or environmental standards than in the U.S.
• Use customs duties to generate revenue to help balance the Federal Budget and lower taxes on wages.
• Do not trade with countries that do not allow religious and political freedom.

When another nation meets these requirements then we should be able to trade with them freely, without special protections or subsidies for special corporate interests.

Water and Trade Agreements