Howard Wiarda, the University of Georgia professor of political science and a long time investigator of things in the Dominican Republic, told reporters that he felt that the United States Congress might well defeat the proposed DR-CAFTA legislation. He based his opinion on the fact that several important sectors of the population consider the bill to be bad for the US economy. According to Wiarda, the passing of the bill ” will be very difficult because there is strong opposition in Congress.”
Wiarda told the Hoy reporters that the perception in the United States is that free trade treaties are prejudicial to the US economy because the manufacturers move many jobs to poor countries to take advantage of the lower labor costs. Wiarda pointed out that union groups in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala pushed by the AFL-CIO have programmed a series of demonstrations in US cities in opposition to the treaty.
On the other extreme are the presidents of the different countries that will be traveling around the US to push for approval.
According to the political scientist, who is an author of various books on the Dominican Republic, the reality in the United States is that while many legislators of both parties are in favor of the treaty, they will vote against is because they fear losing votes in the next election. “Congress has the feeling that the US is losing jobs, losing work, and this is politically difficult at this time,” according to Wiarda.