Tom Harkin: “as the Senate debates the Central American Free Trade Agreement implementing legislation today, we know that it has been…”

“as the Senate debates the Central American Free Trade Agreement implementing legislation today, we know that it has been more than 13 months since the United States and its six partner countries in Central American and the Dominican Republic formally signed the agreement. So what has taken so long? The reason I think for the long delay, obviously, is that supporters have had a hard time selling this agreement to the American people. The supposed benefits are murky, in the distance, while the flaws are all too obvious. This is a shame because we could have a much better agreement that would have won broad bipartisan support. I have evaluated CAFTA with a genuinely open mind, having supported most major trade agreements during my three decades in Congress. I have no philosophical or ideological bias for or against trade. Far from it. I take a strictly pragmatic approach, and generally I am in favor of trade. But that same pragmatism tells me that it is folly to load all of our economic and diplomatic hopes on the slender back of inadequate trade agreements. As has been my practice with past trade agreements, I have carefully weighed the prospective advantages and disadvantages of CAFTA. Under the fast-track procedure, our only option is to vote up or down. And late last evening, after thoroughly looking at this, I finally had to come to the conclusion that the problems with CAFTA, as we have it before us, clearly outweigh the very small benefits.…”