FAIR TRADE NOT FREE TRADE

A Politician of Integrity

I make no apology for taking the following directly from Scunnert Nation's blog.

'The governor of the State of Maine, John Elias Baldacci, sent this letter to Rob Portman, then still the US Trade Representative.  Will Alex Salmond follow his lead and send a letter to Peter Mandelson instructing him to remove Scotland from the GATS negotiations in order to protect the rights and sovereignty of the Scottish people?

I write to request that you carve Maine out of new service offers you are proposing in the context of the current Doha Round of negotiations. Maine does not wish to be bound to GATS rules for any new service sectors, including but not limited to, those proposed in your May 31, 2005 offer.

I would also like to clarify the scope of the service-sector commitments made in 1995. ... Please carve Maine out of all sectors relating to health care, including health insurance, hospitals and other health care facilities, construction and related engineering services, wholesale distribution and the cross-border nursing commitments under Placement and Supply Services of Personnel.

Maine also has a diversity of zoning and land use laws that are determined by local communities and reflect an evolving effort to decide democratically how our cities and towns will grow. In many places, land use laws include quantitative limits, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas or historic districts. In light of the fact that many other developed countries have specifically made exceptions for these policies, while the United States failed to do so, we ask that you carve Maine out of all sectors that implicate land use, including retail distribution, hotels and restaurants, and rranchising.

Please carve Maine out of the libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural services sector.

As I have stated in my previous correspondence, liberalized trade should not be promoted at the expense of state sovereignty and the democratic principles upon which this country was founded. We have an important opportunity ahead of us to develop a more effective system of state-federal consultation that requires prior informed consent from states in order to evaluate the full impacts of trade agreements on areas of domestic concern. I am a firm advocate of international trade, and I believe a strong economy with vibrant trade relationships is possible without sacrificing measures needed to provide safeguards for workers, consumers, the environment and democratic governance.

I look forward to working with your office to promote a stronger and more democratic trade agenda that benefits all.'

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