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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, U.S. trade deals for the past 25 years have been
3corporate-driven, incorporating rules that skew benefits to
4economic elites while requiring working families to bear the
5brunt of such policies; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The growing trade deficits, driven by the North
7American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), China's accession to the
8World Trade Organization, and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade
9Agreement, have displaced 700,000 jobs, 3.2 million jobs, and
1075,000 jobs respectively; and
 
11    WHEREAS, U.S. employment in manufacturing dropped by 5
12million from 2000 to 2015; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Jobs lost due to trade devastate families and
14entire communities and can permanently reduce lifetime
15earnings for hundreds of thousands of workers; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The long decline of the American manufacturing
17base, exacerbated by bad trade policies that reward
18outsourcing, has undermined our economic security and poses a
19direct threat to our national security; and
 
20    WHEREAS, The offshoring of manufacturing and service jobs

 

 

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1deprives local and state governments of sorely needed revenues,
2jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of public servants, as
3well as construction workers whose jobs depend upon
4infrastructure building, repair, and maintenance; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Under NAFTA-style trade rules, the U.S.'s annual
6trade deficit has increased dramatically from $70 billion in
71993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, to more than $508
8billion in 2014; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The disproportionate voice of powerful global
10corporations in the formation of U.S. "free trade" agreements
11has advanced an agenda that undermines the public interest and
12threatens democracy; and
 
13    WHEREAS, NAFTA, and all but 2 of the U.S. trade deals that
14followed it, includes special legal rights for foreign
15investors, known as "investor-to-state dispute settlement" or
16ISDS, that allow foreign firms to bypass state and federal
17courts to challenge state and local laws, regulations, and
18administrative and judicial decisions in international
19tribunals; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Foreign investors have already used NAFTA's ISDS
21provisions to challenge decisions regarding local building
22permits, environmental regulations, and state bans on toxic

 

 

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1chemicals and decisions of state courts; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Climate change and environmental degradation
3threaten communities across the globe and ISDS provisions in
4the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may expose nations
5enacting policies to fight climate change to ISDS cases that
6undermine these efforts; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Promoting economic growth with equity in Illinois
8requires an approach that reforms the entire trade negotiation
9process to ensure that the voices of workers, farmers, small
10businesses, families, and communities are heard and their
11interests addressed; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The TPP has been negotiated in secret, effectively
13shutting state and local governments out of the process,
14limiting our ability to influence its rules to ensure the
15people of Illinois can participate in the benefits of trade;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, Given the enactment of fast track trade
18negotiating authority, states, localities, and their citizens
19will have no opportunity to correct shortcomings in the TPP
20because its text will not be made public until it is final and
21can no longer be improved; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Repeating old mistakes in negotiating new trade
2agreements such as the TPP represents a missed opportunity to
3strengthen our economy, reduce income inequality, and promote
4sustainable growth; therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
6ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we call upon our
7elected officials in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of
8Representatives to oppose the TPP and any similar trade deals
9if they fail to restructure the misguided and failed policies
10of the past; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That we call upon our elected officials in the
12U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to support new
13trade deals such as the TPP only if they do the following:
14        (1) protect and promote traditional state and local
15    prerogatives and authority under our federal system,
16    including by ensuring that states and localities will not
17    be required to comply with certain commitments, including
18    any restrictions on preferences for local, state, or U.S.
19    goods or services, without prior informed consent of the
20    legislature or local lawmaking body;
21        (2) ensure balanced trade and address the excessive,
22    job-killing U.S. trade deficit;
23        (3) include enforceable rules against currency
24    manipulation, which countries such as China and Japan have

 

 

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1    used to tilt the playing field in their favor;
2        (4) exclude investor-to-state dispute settlement
3    (ISDS) and other provisions that favor foreign companies
4    over domestic ones and undermine public choices;
5        (5) ensure that countries cannot undercut U.S.-based
6    producers with weaker labor and environmental laws and
7    enforcement;
8        (6) ensure that the U.S. will engage in robust
9    enforcement of trade rules, including labor and
10    environmental rules;
11        (7) include strong rules of origin to promote economic
12    growth and job creation in the U.S.;
13        (8) promote high standards of protection for
14    workplaces, products, and natural resources rather than
15    promoting a race to the bottom; and
16        (9) put the interests of people and the planet over the
17    interests of private profit; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
19delivered to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the
20Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and each member
21of the Illinois congressional delegation.