House Takes Down Bad Vietnam Trade Deal; South Koreans Set to Protest Trade Pact

by James Parks, Nov 14, 2006

Yesterday, the lame-duck U.S. House of Representatives surprised Republican leaders by defeating legislation to “normalize” trade relations with Vietnam, four days before President George W. Bush makes his first visit to that country.

The Republicans were up to their old tricks again, trying to rush the bill through without much debate. But they failed to get the two-thirds majority they needed to pass the measure under a special procedure. The bill failed 228–161, 32 votes short of the 260 needed for passage.

In a letter to House members yesterday, AFL-CIO Legislation Director William Samuel said the bill would not help working families in the United States or Vietnam:

While the AFL-CIO supports expanded trade with Vietnam, and particularly supports programs and efforts to improve the living standards and conditions of Vietnamese workers, our trade relations with Vietnam should remain governed by existing agreements until such time that Vietnam takes meaningful steps to bring practice and law regarding workers’ rights into compliance with international standards.

The proposal also faces obstacles in the U.S. Senate, where the administration has offered assurances that it will impose penalties on Vietnamese textile products if the country is found to be selling those products at unfairly low prices.

Republicans, who still control the House in the lame-duck session, could bring the measure up under normal procedures, which require only a majority of votes for passage.

Meanwhile, another trade deal with an Asian country is in trouble. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and other organizations have called for a nationwide general strike Wednesday to protest massive repression of workers’ rights and violence against trade unionists, as well as the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS-FTA). Over the past several months, South Korean police have launched raids against and shut down more than 80 union halls, jailed more than 100 union members and used violent tactics resulting in the death of at least one worker.

In what would be the biggest trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, the KORUS-FTA would further erode the rights of South Korean workers, many of whom now work long hours in unsafe conditions.

Meanwhile, despite published reports that lame-duck House Republicans could bring up another bad trade deal, this one with Peru, most observers believe the deal will not come up until next year when Democrats, who favor fair trade, will be in control of Congress.

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