Study Details High-Tech Industry’s False CAFTA Promises

[BigBearJohn]

Washington DC - A groundbreaking new study, released today by technology unions and inventors, details the U.S. high-tech industry’s false claims about the ability of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to boost exports, create jobs, and increase intellectual property protections are false.

The report, “The Real Pirates of the Caribbean: U.S. High-Tech Industry’s False CAFTA Promises,” found that despite industry arguments, sales to all CAFTA countries comprise little more than one percent of U.S. high-tech exports. Neither U.S. industry nor the administration has identified high-tech piracy in Central America as a significant problem for significant enforcement, but it is clear that after 11 years of NAFTA, Mexico’s intellectual piracy problems have increased greatly, the report documents.

Ian Chan Hodges of the American Ingenuity Alliance (AIA) noted that many of the high-tech firms lobbying for CAFTA because of its intellectual property provisions are simultaneously urging Congress to undermine the IP rights of inventors within the United States.

“High-tech workers are facing a crisis today with seeing their jobs exported overseas, increased job insecurity and downward pressure on wages. Microsoft’s support of CAFTA only erodes domestic jobs and does nothing to create fair trade policies to protect U.S. workers,” said Marcus Courtney, president of WashTech, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers. “The industry is misleading Congress and the country with its false CAFTA promises.”

Full article: http://www.techsunite.org/news/050510_cafta.cfm