Zoellick: Unforgettable in Every Way

We've written in recent days about how the Bush administration made very clear in its early days in office that it had no plan on enforcing labor rights provisions in the "breakthrough" Jordan FTA. Well, the dude that done it (i.e. that wrote the letter saying this would be policy) is none other than Bush's latest pick to head the World Bank - Bobby Moustache Zoellick. While development gurus often lamented that Paul Wolfowitz had no experience with economic policy, I'm worried that Moustache has TOO MUCH of the WRONG experience, as former Bush adminstration U.S. Trade Representative who pushed Fast Track and NAFTA expansions to Chile, Morocco, Singapore, and Australia.

The Z Man, who inadvertently helped Global Trade Watch win the annual Public Citizen pumpkin carving contest a few years ago (photo adjacent), has a long history of being on the wrong side of the fair trade debate. Here are just a few of his choicest quotes:

$ Quotations from Chairman Zoellick $

Corporations of the World Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Shame!

Personal Attacks on Critics of Fast Track

"Speaking to a business group in Chicago, Zoellick described lawmakers and lobbyists who oppose a [trade promotion authority] bill sponsored by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) as 'xenophobes and isolationists.'"

- Inside U.S. Trade, Oct. 26, 2001

Congresspeople Against Fast Track Are Only in it for the Money

"Let’s be frank: for a lot of members, even the ones that know that trade is the right thing to do, they’re being held back for other, rather narrow-interest reasons, some of them related to the understandable politics of where they get their money from."

- Q&A after Zoellick speech at the Institute for International Economics, Bureau of National Affairs, Sept. 25, 2001

WTO No Place for Labor, Environmental Considerations

"While the U.S. has narrowed its differences with developing countries by agreeing not to enforce environmental and labor standards at the WTO, it may face opposition from the European Union and Japan, which are still pushing to include those issues in the talk's agenda, Zoellick said."

- Summary Zoellick speech, Bloomberg News Service, Oct. 18, 2001

Regarding Environmental Protection as a Trade Barrier

"'Our position is more similar to that of many in the developing world,' Zoellick said at a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministers. Including rules on environmental protection in a free-trade agreement 'might be a problem in terms of protectionism.'"

- Bloomberg News Service, Oct. 18, 2001

Congress Can't Be Trusted to Exercise Good Judgment on Trade

"By refusing to extend fast-track negotiating authority, it would signal a return to the days of 1930, to the logic that Congress should freely adjust and amend trade arrangements around the globe without consideration of the benefits of the package as a whole."

- Zoellick op-ed, Washington Post, April 28, 1991

Democrats, Let Me Tell You What's Good for You

"Zoellick said that [The Thomas Trade Promotion Authority] legislation would be ‘enough for any Democrat that really wants to support trade."

- Inside US Trade, Sept. 28, 2001

Fast Track Could Have Prevented World War II

"The Great Depression, fed by virulent protectionism and parochial isolationism, led to an age of dictators, another devastating war, and even a Holocaust."

- Zoellick speech to Council on Foreign Relations, Oct. 30, 2001

Zoellick Crassly Polarizes Trade Fight by Casting it as Vote on Terrorism

"Trade Representative Zoellick raised the stakes in the upcoming legislative fight, casting the bill as an element of the U.S. arsenal in the battle against terrorism itself."

- National Journal's CongressDaily, Sept. 25, 2001

No On Fast Track Surrenders U.S. Leadership to Terrorism

"'Will the Congress strongly support free trade as a cornerstone of international leadership and the promotion of our values through granting U.S. trade promotional authority to the president?' Zoellick asked [the Washington International Trade Association and the National Policy Association]. Zoellick urged those in the audience to press for passage of the legislation, indicating that by doing so they would be contributing to the fight against terrorism."

- National Journal's CongressDaily, Sept. 25, 2001

Food Safety Standards are Trade Barriers

"Agriculture also faces a host of non-tariff barriers, particularly through the misapplication of sanitary and phytosanitary standards. We need fair rules, based on reason and science, for the development of biotechnology...."

- Zoellick speech to Council on Foreign Relations, Oct. 30, 2001

No Room for Labor or Environment in Fast Track

"Zoellick urged caution regarding the inclusion of labor and environmental language into any TPA legislation, citing concerns over 'sovereignty' and the inability to impose 'one-size-fits-all' solutions."

- Bureau of National Affairs, Sept. 25, 2001

Noting Congress' Constitutional Authority Over Trade: Hand it Over

"I know well that the Constitution vests Congress with the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations."

- Zoellick confirmation hearing, Senate Finance Committee Jan. 30, 2001

Steel Industry Must Restructure Again to Receive Protection

"Action under Section 201 can give U.S. producers vital breathing space while they restructure and regain competitiveness. The Administration looks forward to receiving the International Trade Commission's views on the question of their injury, and if appropriate, the actions to be undertaken by the domestic industry to adjust to import competition."

- Zoellick quote from USTR press release, June 22, 2001

No Action on Steel Without Total Restructuring

"I'm not going forward on [steel safeguard relief] unless they restructure [the steel industry]. My view is, if they're willing to take the courageous step to do that, if the unions are willing to take the courageous steps to do this, we as a government should support them under WTO rules."

- Robert Zoellick speech to National Association of Manufacturers, Bureau of National Affairs, Oct. 24, 2001

Zoellick Mystified by EU's Refusal to Overturn a Law WTO Ruled Against

"This is a dispute resolution mechanism, it's supposed to work, we win the case, we win the appeal, they don't budge."

- Robert Zoellick confirmation hearing, Senate Finance Committee, Jan. 30, 2001