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2004 SESSION

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047332808
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 40 Offered January 14, 2004 Prefiled January 13, 2004 Memorializing the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States to reject the Central American Free Trade Agreement and to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement and similar free trade agreements. ---------- Patron-- Reynolds ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a proposed agreement between the United States and five Central American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua); and

WHEREAS, official negotiations for the agreement are currently underway, and the agreement is a key part of the plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); and

WHEREAS, CAFTA shares many similarities with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was ratified in 1993; and

WHEREAS, since 1993, according to the Economic Policy Institute, more than 875,000 American jobs have been lost as a result of NAFTA, with other estimates ranging as high as three million jobs lost; and

WHEREAS, recent trade concessions granted to Peru and Singapore have served to make the situation for American workers more perilous; and

WHEREAS, the liberalization of trade policies caused by NAFTA and similar agreements has widened American trade deficits with other nations and contributed to the loss of American jobs; and

WHEREAS, many of those job losses have been in Southside and Southwest Virginia in furniture manufacturing and textiles; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States be urged to reject United States' membership in the Central American Free Trade Agreement; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States be urged to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement and other similar free trade agreements; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States be urged to resist any attempt to further liberalize American trade policies; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.