Trading Up: Labor Standards, Development, and CAFTA

Publication Date: May 2004

Publisher: Center for Global Development; Center for Global Development

Author(s): Kimberly A. Elliott; Kimberly A. Elliott

Research Area: Trade

Type:

Abstract:

This brief examines the potential positive synergies between globalization, development, and labor standards. It argues that certain core labor standards can be applied globally without undermining comparative advantage, and that doing so would be good for development. The issues are also examined in terms of the recently concluded Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), whose fate in the U.S. Congress is currently uncertain because of a combination of protectionist interests on both sides of the aisle and Democratic concerns that the labor provisions are not strong enough.