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- Title
WHEN IT COMES TO FREE TRADE POLICY, HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE A GAME CHANGER.
- Authors
SANCHEZ, LORETTA
- Abstract
Since the end of World War II, the United States has entered into many free trade agreements. These agreements have not only been offered as a reward to U.S. allies, but have also been entered into with countries that routinely violate basic human rights standards that the United States holds dear. Policymakers have often claimed, as was the case with the U.S.-Vietnam free trade agreement negotiated in the 1990s, that these agreements would encourage improvements in human rights conditions. However, in Vietnam and elsewhere, such agreements have almost universally failed to yield any improvements. Now, as the United States considers approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ("TPP"), members of both political parties must reevaluate this failed approach and take a meaningful stand for human rights. This Essay argues that specific, measurable human rights commitments should be a necessary prerequisite before any trade deal is consummated. Unless the United States requires enforceable commitments from counterparties that they will respect human rights, it should not reward countries with the economic and political benefits that accompany free trade. In other words, the United States must chart a new course in trade negotiations, by linking free trade benefits to human rights progress.
- Subjects
FREE trade policy; HUMAN rights; WORLD War II; TRANS-Pacific Partnership; ECONOMIC development
- Publication
Harvard Journal on Legislation, 2015, Vol 52, Issue 2, p343
- ISSN
0017-808X
- Publication type
Essay