Common Dreams
New research disproves the argument that the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) would act as an economic lifeboat for Central American countries whose textile and apparel industries are expected to be devastated by the Jan. 1, 2005, lifting of World Trade Organization (WTO) textile and apparel quotas, Public Citizen said today. Public Citizen has released a compilation of this research in a new policy brief, “Myth vs. Reality: CAFTA Cannot ‘Save’ Central American Textile/Apparel Industry or Safeguard the U.S. Industry after WTO/MFA Quotas End.”
“Because the public and policymakers have a negative impression of NAFTA’s effects on the United States, supporters of the CAFTA-NAFTA expansion are seeking to create a story about how the pact, for which there is limited congressional support, would help Central American countries,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “But when you compare the research data to the claims about CAFTA’s ability to ‘save’ Central America’s textile and apparel industries and jobs from the devastation of the ending of global textile and apparel quotas, the argument totally unravels.”
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