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including Bill Clinton, are subject to pressure from special interest groups, on trade

matters the chief executive has a greater incentive than individual members of Congress

to consider the broad interests of consumers and the economy as whole.

"Clean" Fast Track Is the Only Way

Congress should pass a "clean" fast-track bill--that is, a bill without language that

could allow the president to include trade-restricting agreements on environment and

labor issues in a fast-track trade bill. Any language that would allow the president to hold

free trade hostage to labor and environmental demands should be rejected by Congress.

Free trade and rising labor and environmental standards are complementary, not

competing, objectives. The best way to promote higher standards around the world is to

promote free trade and the efficiencies it brings.

Working conditions in less developed countries cannot be raised by government

fiat. If new labor regulations were all that were needed, countries such as Bangladesh

and Mexico could simply legislate a Western-style minimum wage, maximum workweek,

generous vacation time, and restrictions on employing children. But such regulations

would only create hardships and unemployment because workers in Third World

countries are simply not productive enough to justify the cost of the regulations. Rising

labor standards are the result of economic growth, not a cause, and free trade is one of the

principal ways of spurring growth.

The tie between free trade and better labor standards was confirmed in a 1996

study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the club

of economically advanced countries. After analyzing core standards in more than 70

countries, the OECD concluded, "The strongest finding is that there is a positive

association over time between successfully sustained trade reforms and the improvement

in core [labor] standards."9

The OECD study also undermined the mistaken belief that less developed

countries can capture export markets and attract foreign investment by systematically

lowering labor standards. It found that in most countries the level of core labor standards

made no real difference in the investment decisions of multinational companies or in the

country's export performance.

The same logic applies to environmental standards. Nations adopt different

regulations for rational reasons. Poorer nations tend to have lower standards because they

simply cannot afford the luxury of imposing Western-style limits on air, water and other

forms of pollution. As living standards improve and more people rise above mere

subsistence, countries can afford to adopt more stringent environmental rules. Great

Britain, the United States, and other developed countries experienced the same transition

in the last century, as soot, sewage, and other pollution produced by the industrial

revolution was eventually curbed by the use of cleaner technology--technology made

possible and affordable by economic growth. Blocking trade with countries that fail to

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