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CAFTA
The Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, which was approved by Congress last week, will be good for many North Carolinians, but not all. As with its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement, this pact will open new markets for some North Carolina interests while it costs jobs for others.
On the whole, North Carolina appears a likely winner in the give-and-take of CAFTA. The textile industry, which has been ravaged by trade agreements in the past, is expected to benefit from the pact, although some textile leaders disagree.
Almost every farm organization in the United States saw CAFTA as a positive, as a chance to open new markets in six countries that already constitute a greater U.S. trading partner than either Australia or Brazil.
There are worries, however. The apparel industry could be further depleted by CAFTA as manufacturers move their plants to the low-wage countries of Central America. CAFTA advocates have argued that those countries will use American textiles to make the goods that they produce. A whole range of other low-skill manufacturing jobs could also be shipped south.
The Bush administration pushed hard for CAFTA’s passage in the U.S. House. It won largely without the support of the state’s congressmen.
Of Republicans, only Reps. Sue Myrick of Charlotte and Robin Hayes voted for CAFTA, while Rep. Charles Taylor’s vote was not recorded. All of the state’s Democrats voted no.
In the Senate, which passed CAFTA a month ago, North Carolina’s two Republican senators, Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole, both supported it.
The president and others made many promises to secure CAFTA’s passage, and this is a big political victory for Bush. Now is the time, however, for those promises to be fulfilled.
The nation’s manufacturers argued that this would be good for manufacturing jobs in the United States. They must be held to account for that. Manufacturers also promised to work for higher living and labor standards in the six countries where many of them will now move their operations.
This agreement represents the first time that the United States has entered a trade pact with countries with such minimal worker protections in their laws. These countries must live up to the bargain and require better standards and better environmental rules.
Most important, however, for North Carolinians who will lose their jobs when CAFTA’s economic shifts occur, the administration has to come through with retraining and displacement benefits.
Much of North Carolina will do well under CAFTA, but the federal government cannot turn its back on those who do not.
From the Winston-Salem Journal
Literature’s loss
The world of words lost a true friend last week when Max Steele passed away at the age of 83. Steele, an author and director of the creative writing program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 20 years, was a living legend around campus.
Students fortunate enough to have taken one of Steele’s English classes or hear him deliver a guest lecture quickly learned how he treasured the language and its nuances. One of his favorite rules was that “less often means more.” Deft, terse prose was his target.
Steele taught young writers to focus on one good word instead of five weak ones.
Born in Greenville, S.C., in 1922, Steele attended Furman and Vanderbilt universities, as well as the Sorbonne and Academie Julienne in Paris. He served in the armed forces during World War II and saw his first published work in Harper’s magazine in 1944, two years before he graduated from UNC.
Steele then returned to Paris and worked as an editor of The Paris Review with colleague and friend George Plimpton.
Steele came back to Chapel Hill in 1967 and built the creative writing program into a nationally recognized curriculum for undergraduates.
His books include “Debby,” “The Cat and the Coffee Drinkers” and an inspired collection of memorable short stories called “Where She Brushed Her Hair.”
Steele’s work will live on in two generations of writers who’ll pause to remember his advice while searching for just the right word.