Efforts by the United States to liberalize trade across the globe have resulted in numerous international free trade agreements (FTAs). The newly approved United States-Dominican Republic Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) exemplifies the Bush administration’s approach to including workers’ rights protections in FTAs. The agreement will liberalize trade between the United States, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Similar to other recently assembled FTAs such as the Chile and Singapore agreements, DR-CAFTA contains only one binding labor provision, which requires countries to enforce existing domestic labor laws. The agreement does not require trade partners to uphold existing, binding obligations to respect core labor standards identified by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The United States Senate and House of Representatives easily approved several earlier FTAs negotiated by the Bush administration. DR-CAFTA, however, faced significant opposition in Congress. Eventually, both the Senate and House narrowly approved the agreement. Much of the pre-vote debate focused on people like Mrs. del Carmen Leiva and issues such as her government’s failure to respect her rights in the workplace. . . .