[CTC_TRADE] U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA (Reuters, March 4)

[adam at wetlands-preserve.org]

      U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA
      By Doug Palmer - Reuters, March 4, 2010


            Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.)
            Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
      The bill spearheaded by Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat, 
would require President Barack Obama to give Mexico and Canada six months 
notice that the United States will no longer be part of the 16-year-old 
trade pact.
      "At a time when 10 to 12 percent of the American people are 
unemployed, I think Congress has an obligation to put people back to work," 
Taylor said.

      He argued NAFTA has cost the United States millions of manufacturing 
jobs and hurt national security by encouraging companies to move production 
to Mexico.

      The high unemployment rate makes it the "perfect" time to push for 
repeal even though past efforts have failed, he said.

      "You'll see the American people rally behind this, in my humble 
opinion," said Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican who is one of 
about 28 co-sponsors of the bill.

      Business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly support NAFTA, which they say has spurred 
U.S. economic growth by tearing down trade barriers between the three 
countries.

      The repeal proposal comes as Obama says he wants to resolve problems 
blocking congressional approval of long-delayed trade deals with South 
Korea, Panama and Colombia.

      The strongest opposition to those agreements comes from Obama's fellow 
Democrats.

      The United States also will begin talks later this month with 
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei on an 
Asia-Pacific regional free-trade agreement.

      Obama criticized NAFTA during the 2008 presidential election campaign 
but has not followed through on threats to withdraw from the agreement if 
Canada and Mexico did not agree to revamp the pact's labor and environmental 
provisions.

      But many Democrats are pushing for that and other changes to existing 
trade deals before considering any new deals such as the deals with South 
Korea, Colombia and Panama.

      The House of Representatives is expected to vote later this year on 
whether the United States should remain a member of the World Trade 
Organization.

      U.S. law allows House and Senate members to request a vote on that 
issue every five years. In 2005, 86 of the House's 435 members voted to 
withdraw from the world trade body.


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