Mideast Trade Deal Could Undermine U.S. Security, Threaten Ohio Jobs

Dewine Silent Again On Ensuring Trade Deals Do Not Endanger Homeland
 
AMHERST-Just four months after the Dubai Ports World scandal, Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine is once again failing to stand up for the economic and national security of Ohio families on a Mideast trade deal.
 
The Senate is expected to begin debate this week on the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement, which would allow international trade tribunals to override U.S. homeland security laws. The Bush administration was negotiating a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates during the Dubai Ports World controversy. If that agreement had been completed, trade tribunals could have overruled the national security review that helped scuttle the ports deal.
 
The Oman agreement specifically authorizes Omani companies --or companies with subsidiaries in Oman -- to operate U.S. ports.  If the U.S. passes port security laws after the deal takes effect, those companies could sue the U.S. government to override the laws. Such lawsuits would be heard before international tribunals charged with trade promotion, not security.
 
"First, Mike DeWine refused to take a position on the Dubai ports deal. Then he voted against port security funding. And now he is remaining silent on the Oman deal," said Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County). "Ohio has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs in the last five years. Will Mike DeWine jeopardize our homeland security as well?"
 
Brown is the sponsor of the Trade-Related American National Security Enhancement and Accountability (TRANSEA) Act, which would protect Ohio by requiring a comprehensive national security review for all new trade agreements. The TRANSEA Act would also establish an independent Congressional commission to monitor the impact of trade policy on homeland security.
 
"We must not trade away our families' safety," Brown said. "Mike DeWine has supported one job-killing trade agreement after another, with no protections in place for our national security. With this Oman deal, he wants more of the same."
 
Brown is one of Congress' leading proponents of fair trade policy. Last year, he led the bipartisan fight in Congress against the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and in 1994 he stood up to a president of his own party in opposing NAFTA. Brown introduced legislation this month to protect Ohio jobs by banning the importation of products made in sweatshops.
 
DeWine supported NAFTA and voted for CAFTA.

06/28/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Homeland Security, Trade, (all tags)