CAFTA & Giving Clinton Credit When Credit is Due

Here's the deal: I am not the biggest fan of Bill Clinton's trade policies (that's an understatement). I think in many respects, he only paid lip service to the concerns of American workers when pushing corporate-backed "free" trade deals, and that many of his trade deals have been disastrous for both ordinary Americans and our trading partners. That said, the man deserves some credit for his work on one trade pact from 1999 - one that can serve as a model for future trade accords that is far different from disastrous proposals like the Central American Free Trade Ageement (CAFTA).

The New York Times notes that "thanks to an unorthodox labor program backed by the United States and intended to improve working conditions, much of Cambodia's garment industry has been holding its own since the end of the global quota system that parceled out shares of the apparel and textile business country by country." And because of such a strong international movement to embarrass retailers into improving working conditions, "a majority of Cambodia's factories have retained the loyalty of major retailers around the world by appealing not just to their need for low-cost production but also to their desire to avoid the stigma of exploiting poor laborers in distant sweatshops."

The Clinton-backed program is pretty straightforward: it increased U.S. quotas on imports from Cambodia, but only if Cambodia's enforcement of worker rights/child labor laws were certified and monitored by the International Labor Organization. And Clinton ponied up, providing money for the ILO to conduct its inspections. Now, as quotas end, Cambodia has a stronger labor/worker rights movement - and better working conditions - than many other similar countries.

As Nathan Newman accurately notes, "the best approach is conditioning trade on countries meeting basic international labor standards." He says, "Cambodia is the poster-child for a country that has moved from the most horrific labor conditions possible under the Khmer Rouge to being a model of labor conditions, largely due to economic incentives offered by the U.S. and the international community to achieve that result." Unlike many other Clinton-negotiated trade deals, this pact helped raise the standards of our trading partner, while preventing Americans from direct competition with slave labor. While certainly not perfect, those are the first outlines of a progressive trade policy we should ultimately emulate.