HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution No. 5147
COUNCIL RESOLUTION NO. 5147
A RESOLUTION OPPOSING EXTENSION OF HARMFUL TRADE
POLICIES.
PASSED: 8:0
REJECTED:
OPPOSED:
ABSENT:
CONSIDERED: January 11, 2016
RESOLUTION NO. 5147
A RESOLUTION OPPOSING EXTENSION OF HARMFUL TRADE POLICIES.
The City Council of the City of Eugene finds that:
A.
U.S. trade deals for the past 25 years have been disproportionately corporate-
driven, incorporating rules that skew benefits to economic elites while requiring working families
to bear the brunt of such policies.
B.
The growing trade deficits, driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA)S.-Korea Free Trade
Agreement, have displaced 700,000 jobs and 3.2 million jobs, and 75,000 jobs respectively.
C.
U.S. employment in manufacturing dropped by 5 million from 2000 to 2015.
D.
Poorly constructed trade deals, such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), stand
to increase the City of Eugene poverty rate, currently at 24.1%, requiring an increased
expenditure of limited public funds to assist families in crisis.
E.
Jobs lost due to shortsighted trade deals devastate families and entire
communities and can permanently reduce lifetime earnings for hundreds of thousands of workers.
F.
The long decline of the American manufacturing baseexacerbated by bad
trade policies that reward outsourcinghas undermined our economic security and poses a
direct threat to our national security.
G.
The offshoring of manufacturing and service jobs deprives local and state
governments of sorely needed revenues, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of public
servants as well as construction workers whose jobs depend upon infrastructure building, repair
and maintenance.
H.
Under NAFTA-style trade rules, the U.S. annual trade deficit has increased
dramatically from 70 billion in 1993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, to more than $508
billion in 2014.
I.
The disproportionate voice of powerful global corporations in the formation of
threatens democracy.
J.
NAFTA and all but two of the U.S. trade deals that followed it include special
-to-ISDS, which
allow foreign firms to bypass state and federal courts to challenge state and local laws,
regulations, and administrative and judicial decisions in international tribunals.
K.
The TPP treaty currently being considered by Congress is likely to include
provisions locking in monopoly protections for expensive specialty drugs called biologics and
limit spending on drugs, potentially increasing drug costs for
the government and all Americans.
Resolution - Page 1 of 3
L.
decisions regarding local building permits, state bans on toxic chemicals and decisions of state
courts.
M.
Promoting economic growth with equity in the City of Eugene requires an
approach that reforms the entire trade negotiation process to ensure that voices of workers,
farmers, small businesses, families and communities are heard and their interests addressed.
N.
The TPP has been negotiated in secret, effectively shutting state and local
governments out of the process, limiting our ability to influence its rules to ensure the people of
the City of Eugene can participate in the benefits of trade.
O.
Given the enactment of fast track trade negotiating authority, states, localities
and their citizens will have no opportunity to correct shortcomings in the TPP since its text will
not be made public until it is final and no longer can be improved.
P.
Repeating old mistakes in negotiating new trade agreements such as the TPP
represents a missed opportunity to strengthen our economy, reduce income inequality and
promote sustainable growth.
NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, a Municipal
Corporation of the State of Oregon, as follows:
Section 1
. The City Council of the City of Eugene calls upon our elected officials in the
U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to oppose the TPP and any similar trade deals
if they fail to restructure their basic inadequacies and unequal preferences the misguided and
failed policies of the past;
Section 2
. The City Council of the City of Eugene calls upon our elected officials in the
U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to support new trade deals such as the TPP
only if they will:
(a) Exclude ISDS and other provisions that favor foreign companies over
domestic ones and undermine public choices;
(b) Ensure that countries cannot undercut U.S. based producers with weaker
labor and environmental laws and enforcement;
(c) Ensure that the U.S. will engage in robust enforcement of trade rules,
including labor and environmental rules;
(d) Include strong rule of origin to promote economic growth and job creation
in the U.S.;
(e) Promote high standards of protection for workplaces, products, and
natural resources rather than promoting a race to the bottom; and
(f) Include provisions which put the interests of people and the planet over
the interests of private profit.
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