Trade Agreements Reveal How Life Will be Organized in 2050

Are not trade agreements about exports and imports? With globalization, trade agreements are playing a larger role - setting moral, social, political and economic values. Under the Articles of Confederation, economic integration in the United States went badly. We created the Constitution in 1789 as a stronger political system. When the European Union integrated its economies, it set up a parallel political system with the European Constitution, the European Commission and the European Parliament. NAFTA and other trade agreements pushed us into stronger economic integration. We have not dealt with the question of governance at the global level. Instead, policies have developed under the influence of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. Dispute settlement tribunals developed as another political structure. Today, we are negotiating two large trade agreements - the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, that will set terms favorable for global companies and investors. These agreements will cover 80% of the world's economy and determine how life is organized at the global level for a generation or two. About the Lecturer: Stan Sorscher is Labor Representative at the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) and President of Washington Fair Trade Coalition