[CTC] CTC Statement on the White House’s NAFTA Renegotiation Plan

[Arthur Stamoulis]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Arthur Stamoulis, (202) 494-8826

Statement on the White House’s NAFTA Renegotiation Plan
By Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director, Citizens Trade Campaign

In response to the Trump administration’s release of its “Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation” <https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Releases/NAFTAObjectives.pdf> this evening, Citizens Trade Campaign (CTC) released the following statement from its executive director, Arthur Stamoulis:

“The Trump administration’s NAFTA renegotiation plan fails to take the bold steps needed to replace NAFTA with a deal that works for working families.  Instead, the document relies heavily on language from past, business-as-usual trade policies that have privileged corporate interests ahead of others.   

"Our coalition has long recognized the damage that NAFTA has done to working families and the environment in the United States, Mexico and Canada.  We have fought for NAFTA to be replaced, and like others, we have detailed for the administration specific policy changes needed <http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CTC-PEOTUS-Trade-Letter-011317.pdf> in order to create good-paying jobs, eliminate environmental threats and otherwise benefit the majority in all three nations.    

"Today’s document is quite vague about what will actually be demanded and much if it simply repeats the 2015 Fast Track negotiating objectives that civil society opposed, as did the vast majority of congressional Democrats.  What is clear is that the document released today does not in any way reflect the NAFTA replacement plan that civil society groups have long championed to put people and the planet first.   

"The administration’s plan is really only specific on one major NAFTA change — eliminating NAFTA’s Chapter 19 anti-dumping case review panels. That makes the vague or down-right concerning language on other issues especially troubling. The document does not mandate the strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards needed to protect jobs at home and human rights abroad.  It doesn’t state that NAFTA’s special investor protections for corporations that make it easier to offshore jobs and to attack our laws will be eliminated.  It doesn’t even state that these talks will eliminate NAFTA’s ban on 'Buy America' government purchasing preferences.    

"There’s nothing in this plan to suggest a NAFTA replacement deal that will benefit working families at home and abroad ahead of corporate profits.     

"And given that members of the Trump administration have publicly stated their intention to use the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the starting point for NAFTA’s renegotiation, this plan’s parroting of previous administrations’ trade negotiating objectives highlights how much harder we’ll need to fight if we’re going to achieve real change.   

"Between this disappointing document, the President’s repeated failure to deliver on his previous trade promises, and his very real conflicts of interest and potential for self-dealing in NAFTA’s renegotiation, there is a stronger-than-ever need for real transparency in these and other trade negotiations moving forward.  We support the bipartisan calls for transparent trade negotiations that would provide Congress, the public and the press will full access to U.S. proposals and draft composite texts." 

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Citizens Trade Campaign (CTC) is a national coalition of labor, environmental, family farm, consumer and faith organizations working together to improve U.S. trade policy.


Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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