Kerry has promised us a review of our trade agreements following his inauguration. That is most certainly a good thing, but I am not certain what he intends to change after his review. There are many people hurt by the current state of our trade treaties, at home and overseas, I hope that those are the people he intends to help with his review.
What I would propose is a significant rethinking of the way free trade works, replacing it with a concept of competitive trade, fairer trade. The current trend towards free trade has benefited large corporations and they are the ones who run treaty bodies such as the World Trade Organization. The decision makers are dominated by those who benefit, where are the labor leaders in the WTO, how loud is the voice of the smaller nations?
I think that free trade should be contingent on providing of basic workers rights. These rights would support basic concepts like the rights to organize, living wages, and medical care for employees. The world trade bodies would consist; in similar numbers of people advocating for business as people advocating for workers. When exporting companies fail to provide the rights agreed to in the trade treaty they would then pay tariffs sufficient to offset their savings in addition to a punitive amount; payable to their host nation and the nation importing their goods.
Such a measure would benefit workers in developing nations who would be provided improved wages and living conditions. It would also benefit small companies and workers in developed nations whose jobs and industries would be protected against the fruits of cheap exploited labor. The only group which would suffer is the owners of sweat shops and they are currently reaping the rewards of behavior which is both immoral and unpatriotic.
Enforcement could prove to be a problem, but there are already courts in place to enforce todays treaties. Those courts could be used to protect workers as well as industries.
Free trade, fairly administered will benefit people of all nations.