Infrastructure Construction would be subject to globalization requirements and likely outsourcing so both parties seem to be hiding that.
Americans, since the Great Depression, associate government spending with job creation here in the US, despite a big change, services liberalization in treaties which globalize government spending and makes it FTA-illegal to not put projects up for bidding internationally, a competition that US firms might not win, due to US workers higher wages.
It seems that both parties are trying to create the impression of infrastructure construction always being right around the corner, but, drat!
We just cant seem to agree on anything!
Meanwhile, foreign countries are getting impatient.
See the procurement tag and the related papers below
- Domestic Regulation in Services: Members Weigh Options for Levelling Playing Field NOTE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PARTIAL SUBSIDIES AND THESE GLOBALIZATION REQUIREMENTS. To preserve jobs, make sure they are "supplied as an exercise of governmental authority" i.e. free to the end user and not competing with one or more commercial firms.
- Plain Language Guide to GATS Domestic Regulation provisions
- General Agreement on Trade in Services: negotiations concerning Domestic Regulations under GATS Article VI(4) (November 24, 2000) "In the current preparatory negotiations on services (part of the “built-in” agenda at the WTO) governments are developing positions regarding GATS Article VI(4) which requires the development of “disciplines” on countries’ domestic regulations over services. Specifically, the article seeks to prevent “unnecessary barriers to trade” in regulations regarding “qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements” and to ensure that regulations are “not more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service.” In our view, this entire exercise is unjustified. There should be no role for the WTO in overseeing non-discriminatory domestic regulations (those which do not discriminate in standards and qualifications based on nationality.) This exercise represents a wholly unwarranted intrusion of trade law into important domestic public safety laws".
- Public Citizen: "Presidential Candidates' Key Proposals on Healthcare and Climate Will Require WTO Modifications"(2008) This essay's by Public citizen explains how the 2008 Presidential candidates proposals (just as today) all violated provisions of the GATS agreement and US 'commitments' and other trade rules and how those commitments were likely to conflict with the promises, making them impossible or very difficult to implement the longer we waited. The references are extremely useful. Highly recommended you read this if you are interested in healthcare in the US.
- Some analyses of domestic regulation disciplines – compilation for MC11 (2017) This is a recent analysis of proposed (by a number of countries) Disciplines on Domestic Regulation from Sanya Reid Smith of TWN, an NGO that has been involved in WTO matters for a long time. It was made before the recent WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires. You can see that its the WTO which is disciplining the countries domestic regulations. ------------------------------------------ Introduction Domestic regulation disciplines on services are being negotiated in a number of trade agreements including at the World Trade Organization (WTO), in the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) 1 and in other free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) 2 and those being negotiated by the European Union (EU) 3 . It seems that domestic regulation disciplines (DRD) will also be negotiated at the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) from 10-13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 4 The European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland etc (‘EU et al’) released their DRD proposed text on 1 December 2017. 5 "These proposed DRD would restrict laws and regulations re services licensing etc, even non-discriminatory laws which apply to domestic and foreign companies equally. Yet, as United Nations Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD) staff note, services regulation is important for a number of reasons including: protecting consumers, ensuring universal access to essential services cultural diversity, quality, safety, correcting market failures (eg: information asymmetry where the service provider has more information than the consumer, natural monopolies, negative externalities (eg environmental degradation from transport) where those not directly involved suffer costs). 6 After highlighting that many regulatory frameworks are still at an emerging stage in developing countries the UNCTAD staff conclude that ‘it is key for developing countries that international rules for services trade preserve the right to regulate (RtR) and grant the necessary policy space to experiment in the search for those policies that best suit individual countries’ specific, developmental needs.’ Given this, the UNCTAD staff note that ‘one would expect developing countries to take a cautious, rather than an offensive approach towards the development of these disciplines, with their main goal to preserve the RtR.’ 7 This compilation includes excerpts from existing analyses of the same DRD proposed in the WTO or in TISA." ----------------------------------- Compiled by Sanya Reid Smith, Third World Network
- The Limited Case for Permitting SME Procurement Preferences in the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement "Any agreement to liberalize procurement markets should deal with the reality that some states have longstanding policies supporting firms owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged individuals, rooted in the constitutional orders of those states. Substantial noneconomic rationales, grounded in notions of social justice and human rights, support these programmes, but the domain of these rationales as they are currently understood is limited to domestic societies. This limitation affects all negotiations to liberalize trade across national borders, in that states (or their leaders) do not hold the view that they have obligations to support the programmes of other states in the area of social justice. I argue that all WTO members should have an equal opportunity to implement noneconomic policies having to do with promoting justice within their borders for their citizens. "
- AFSC: State issues affecting Government Procurement "Don’t Make Trade Commitments Affecting Our State Unless We Authorize It," "Does WTO Limit Local Authority? Proposed Commission Would Explore Impact of “Free Trade”" many others (trade agreements offshore millions of public service jobs like teaching, construction, and nursing, as a bargaining chip in global power, they potentially block domestic programs like Green New Deal, public housing, rent control, zoning restrictions, etc.)
- How Many U.S.Jobs Might Be Offshorable? Alan Blinder He concludes that around 26% of our jobs are vulnerable to offshoring - See also the later replication stufy that concludes 41% are. Not counting public jobs.
- AFSC:Trade Agreements and Guest Worker Programs Trade agreements lock in entitlements for foreign firms to take publicly funded jobs if they are the lowest qualified bidders, they also must give foreign companies such abnormally favorable conditions that it is almost certain they will be.
- Towards Developing Subsidy Disciplines Under the GATS Read this carefully so you can understand how the GATS is undermining public education and pulling up the ladders that might otherwise improve social mobility, such as subsidized higher education. All around the world, We are doing this, as are many other rich nations. Its a stealth war on the very idea of a middle class. Everywhere. Note also that this is an Indian government funded think-tank. GATS is really a global con job to con countries out of funding public education, holding out the bait of lower taxes to the wealthy. Judging by email, some readers of this site seem unable to grasp what is going on, as its so far away from what we're fed on TV. Note: "Trade Distortion" is when the normal hierarchies of quality/value/cost (i.e. poor people getting poor services, rich people getting acceptable ones) are disrupted by government intervention or lack of intervention or any other "measure", "devaluing" a service. See also the related principles of minimal derogation, (minimal trade restrictiveness") and proportionality. This applies to healthcare too. Any tiers at all will be expanded. The only way out is to make services free. Thats the only way to preserve their jobs too. Otherwise GATS will outsource them eventually. Unless professionals are willing to work for even less than people in developing countries with rich families who view it as part of the cost to educate them. People with advanced degrees from developing countries are never poor, always rich. So these trade deals do not hep the poor in any way shape or form, they help those who have the most money in very poor countries.
- THE FUTURE OF GATS ARTICLE XV: SERVICE SUBSIDY REGULATIONS UNDER THE WTO
- Navigating between the Poles: Unpacking the Debate on the Implications for Development of GATS Obligations relating to Health and Education Services "Differences of opinion are stark regarding the implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for public services"
- Informal Brief: The WTO Services Negotiations and Migrant Workers (AFSC) As the World Trade Organization (WTO) gears up for the next ministerial meeting to be held December 2005 in Hong Kong, some developing country governments are pushing for an expansion of the types of labor currently covered under the services agreement. Under the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), services are categorized into four “modes”. These include: Mode 1 Providing services abroad Mode 2 Consumption of services abroad Mode 3 Commercial Presence Subsidiary branches including service providers such as a banks, hospitals, or construction firms that are owned by a foreign company Mode 4 – Temporary movement of natural persons (workers) acro ss boarders to provide services Mode 4 and temporary workers Sectors currently covered under GATS Mode 4 commitments focus on highly skilled jobs, such as doctors, nurses, company executives—sectors favored by current visa systems. Also favored by current commitments are categories of special importance to Mode 3, commercial presence, such as intracompany transferees. Some developing country governments want to expand services covered under Mode 4 to include medium and low skilled workers, such as domestic help or construction, thus covering sectors in which they hold a competitive advantage.