They more than make up for any jobs lost as U.S. plants move overseas in search of cheap labor. But many in both parties ignore these facts. Democrats, especially those allied with unions and environmentalists, don't want any trade deals with nations with lower labor or environmental standards, claiming they are no better than a pact with the devil. They want fast track to require all deals to mandate gradual equalization of foreign worker and environmental rules. The words are noble but misleading.
Trade helps to enrich nations too poor to improve their environment and working conditions now.
Trade can spur the kinds of human rights he favors. The alternative is ignoring U.S. consumers who benefit from lower prices and those who've lost their jobs through corporate downsizing and are finding work in our growing export sector. The president has tried to accommodate Gephardt and his allies by promising to write agreements outside formal trade pacts to promote improvement of labor and worker standards and press the World Trade Organization to raise them for all. Gephardt and friends remain unmoved. Meanwhile, Republicans, who don't want to mix trade and social policy at all, are objecting.