Who Likes CAFTA?

Now that CAFTA has passed, we must begin to speculate on the actual effects of the legislation, rather than merely the political battle that took place before its passing.

We must look at the trade opportunties presented in the deal. These countries do not represent the magnificent consumer base that was tapped with NAFTA. On the opposite side, they do not offer the same kind of threatening competition to certain American businesses that Mexico and Canada did. In fact, what we realize, after examining CAFTA, is that the only people who had a real cause for concern were the members of the sugar industry. However, they should not feel threatened anymore because their potent lobby in congress has turned what was supposed to be a free trade bill into what many consider a boondoggle.

According to Mercola, the sugar industry is presently protected by import quotas that inflate the prices of American sugar almost $2 billion a year. In fact, in order to get the bill out of committee in the senate, the legislation had to include subsidies to ethanol producers who buy U.S sugar as feedstock. The lobby fought the efforts of Congress to raise the quotas by 1% on foreign sugar, and succeeded.

Interestingly enough, the Bush administration continued to pursue CAFTA despite the anti-trade provisions in the bill. And why not? To most of the public, the president has won a major battle and combatted protectionism. Most people do not know of the pork barrel projects doled out to senators such as Kit Bond (R-MO), who will receive a $1 billion dam on the Mississippi River. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) had provisions written in for textile mills in her state. This blog does not doubt that it was payday for many a "doubtful" congressman on the eve of the vote.

For intelligent analysis of the pork barrel deals, go to Infidel World.