[CTC] U.S. trade rep office touts tough stance on NAFTA at San Antonio hearing

Tue Nov 21 08:15:37 PST 2017

Congrats to the Texas Fair Trade Coalition in getting some critical content in press accounts of yesterday’s NAFTA field hearing held by Senator Cornyn, to which which only government and corporate witnesses were invited.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

http://www.kens5.com/news/local/us-senator-john-cornyn-we-need-to-modernize-nafta/493481250 <http://www.kens5.com/news/local/us-senator-john-cornyn-we-need-to-modernize-nafta/493481250>

U.S. Senator John Cornyn: We need to modernize NAFTA
SAN ANTONIO - A critical hearing was held in downtown San Antonio Monday focusing on the future of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Proponents say it works, but critics disagree.

Collectively, stakeholders believe the treaty needs an update; A NAFTA 2.0.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn from Texas led the Congressional hearing inside the Marriott Plaza Monday, 24 years after NAFTA was signed.

He also believes in a modernized NAFTA, one that will level the playing field.

The North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States creates jobs, keeps prices lower for consumers and creates better markets for our energy and agricultural products.

"When people say there are winners and losers in NAFTA, I'm wondering where those losers are," said Cornyn. "I believe NAFTA is working. Certainly, it's working for Texas."

Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee, has jurisdiction over these trade agreements.

This morning, he listened to stakeholders talk about what changes, if any, NAFTA needs.

"Increased resources for customs modernization and improved infrastructure at the border will reduce delays in border crossings, benefiting consumers by minimizing food spoilage and transportation costs," said Richard Perez, President & CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

In 2015, San Antonio service companies exported a total of $10.7 billion.

Supporters of a modernized NAFTA want the agreement to have more fair labor and environmental standards and more opportunities for America in the world of digital trade.

New plants for automobiles and growth within the energy sector employed millions, but critics say the real "losers" in NAFTA are the workers.

"A lot of the things that we really want to make sure happen is that the workers will get paid fairly," said Montserrat Garibay, Secretary-Treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO. "If a worker gets paid in one month an hour of what they get paid here in the U.S., that's unacceptable."

"We were told that it was going to create high-paying jobs on both sides of the border. The fact is now, a single government program has verified that there has been close to 1 million manufacturing jobs lost to Mexico," said Bob Cash, Director of the Texas Fair Trade Coalition. 

Cash says since NAFTA started, wages in Mexico have dropped an average of 9%.

"Summer before last, when Mexican workers went on strike, it turns out they were being paid less than average Chinese factory wages," said Cash. "The old NAFTA was a great success for the economic elites, for the 1% of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., but workers got the short end of the stick in all three
countries."

U.S. trade representatives revealed in the hearing that the U.S. is in a $500 billion trade deficit with Mexico and a $100 billion deficit with Canada, which accumulated within the last decade. They say President Trump is concerned that the enormous deficits don't represent the type of fair and reciprocal the relationship that should exist when the U.S. gives special privileges to another country.

Cornyn doesn't see failure as an option. If the U.S. withdraws from  NAFTA, 1 million jobs are at risk in Texas.

President Trump has said if the U.S. can't renegotiate a trade deal,  it will be terminated.

"I'm hoping any talk of withdrawal is maybe just a negotiating technique or rhetoric because I do believe it needs to be modernized," said Cornyn.

In order for any renegotiated provisions of NAFTA to go into effect, they will first have to be approved by US Congress.

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio/news/2017/11/20/senator-cornyn-holds-nafta-field-committee-hearing <http://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio/news/2017/11/20/senator-cornyn-holds-nafta-field-committee-hearing>

SEN. CORNYN HOLDS NAFTA FIELD COMMITTEE HEARING
By Alese Underwood  |  November 20, 2017 @4:05 PM

SAN ANTONIO — Texas Sen. John Cornyn headed up a Congressional hearing on the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio on Monday.

"I do know the failure to renegotiate and modernize NAFTA would be very bad for Texas and the United States," said Cornyn.

The agreement was signed 25 years ago, and its supporters said it is essential for the U.S. economy.

"Trade generally, NAFTA specifically, means jobs. For Texas more than 380,000 jobs that depend on Mexico alone," said Paola Avila with the Border Trade Alliance.

"If you just look at the question of plant openings, since NAFTA there have been 26 that have come online since NAFTA, 14 in the U.S., 11 in Mexico, 1 in Canada," said Mitch Bainwol with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

But even NAFTA's supporters say the agreement needs some fixes. Labor activists are concerned it slights workers.

"The main thing we're interested in the new NAFTA, the renegotiation process right now, is that workers don't get forgotten," said Bob Cash with Texas Fair Trade Coalition. "The old NAFTA was a great success for the economic elites for the one percent in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S." 

"If a worker gets paid one hour for a month what they get paid here in the U.S., that's unacceptable," said Montserrat Garibay with Texas AFL-CIO.

Cornyn also thinks NAFTA needs some tweaking, but President Trump has talked about withdrawing from it completely. Cornyn said that would be a mistake.

"I hope that any talk of withdrawal is maybe just a negotiating technique or rhetoric and it's not real because I do believe it needs to be modernized," Cornyn said.

Senator Cornyn said the country has seen huge changes since NAFTA was first signed, in particular, the rise in digital commerce. He thinks that will be a huge focus of the agreement's modernization.

http://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/U-S-trade-rep-office-touts-tough-stance-on-NAFTA-12372769.php <http://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/U-S-trade-rep-office-touts-tough-stance-on-NAFTA-12372769.php>

SAN ANTONTIO EXPRESS NEWS

U.S. trade rep office touts tough stance on NAFTA at San Antonio hearing
By Lynn Brezosky <http://www.expressnews.com/author/lynn-brezosky/>
November 20, 2017 Updated: November 20, 2017 9:05pm

U.S. Trade Representative General Counsel Stephen Vaughn on Monday defended what have been called “poison pill” proposals by the U.S. in the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation, saying Americans “deserve a better deal.”

“For a very long time, our NAFTA partners have enjoyed an agreement that is tilted in their favor,” Vaughn said during a San Antonio field hearing of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness. Subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the hearing to coincide with Senate passage of the original agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico 24 years ago. The hearing was held at the Marriott Plaza Hotel conference center, where the agreement was ceremonially signed in 1992.

“They do not want to give up that advantage, and we can understand why they feel that way,” Vaughn said, trumpeting U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s strong-arm approaches to anti-dumping provisions, increased U.S. content under rules of origin mandates, and performance review provisions such as the controversial “sunset” clause that would force renegotiation of the pact every five years.

“NAFTA is unbalanced,” Vaughn said. “We have put forward a number of proposals designed to create a more level playing field.”

Key negotiators are in Mexico City for the fifth round of what have been contentious discussions. Following an impasse in the last round of talks, Lighthizer called to extend the negotiations into 2018. The latest round has been reportedly slow-going, with U.S. negotiators refusing to budge on proposals its NAFTA partners staunchly oppose. Stakeholders in the treaty’s approximately $1.2 trillion in annual trade have been fearful it won’t survive.

Despite the “raucous” tone to some of the talks and the uncertainty brought by U.S. threats to withdraw, Cornyn said he was optimistic there would be a deal.

“I believe there will be a modernization, because I think the consequences of a failure are really going to be bad for all three countries involved,” he said.

Witnesses from U.S. industries that have benefited from NAFTA — including automobile manufacturing, oil and gas as well as farming and ranching — urged negotiators not to lose sight of the prosperity NAFTA has brought not just Texas but also inland states. According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report released last week, Texas ranks fourth of states who would lose the most should the agreement be dissolved. Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota ranked first, second and third.

“America’s automotive industry has a significant economic stake in the outcome of the renegotiations of NAFTA — perhaps more than any U.S. industrial sector,” said Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Since NAFTA took effect, the U.S. has seen 15 new auto manufacturing plants that have created more than 50,000 direct and 350,000 indirect U.S. jobs, he said. The U.S. auto industry currently generates $500 billion in annual compensation and $205 billion in annual tax revenue.

Bainwol said the U.S. proposal to increase the amount of automobile content from NAFTA countries to 85 percent from 62.5 percent is unreasonable and would stanch new investment, raise prices for consumers and make the U.S. industry less competitive globally. He said it could also “change the calculation for plants in Mexico not to source from the U.S.”

Richard Perez, CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, noted that Texas leads the nation in exports, with Mexico accounting for more than $90 billion, or about 40 percent, of those exports.
“As we look to the future, uncertainty surrounding the upcoming renegotiation has had a chilling effect on growth and new investment throughout the region, putting our existing record of prosperity in doubt,” he said.

He listed San Antonio-based Howard Energy, which plans more than $1 billion in energy projects over the next five years in Northern Mexico and South Texas; Toyota, which under NAFTA went from having two to 10 U.S. plants; and Avanzar Interior Technologies, which supplies all seats for Toyota trucks made from San Antonio south to Guanajuato, Mexico; as local companies that could be upended by negotiators’ failure to reach a deal.

Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau, said U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada quadrupled under NAFTA. In 2016, more than $834 million and $875 million in Texas agricultural exports went to Mexico and Canada, respectively, he said.

Trade in beef and cattle has made North America a formidable bloc for beef products, he said. North American trading partners buy cotton, which the state’s second leading agricultural commodity, at a stable rate.

“Any time you lose any markets for those products, it’s going to have a serious disruption to agriculture,” Boening said. “If you lose markets or you lose potential for markets, you may never get it back.”

Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, said NAFTA was being renegotiated at a time when North America was approaching independence with its liquid fuel needs.

“NAFTA has served as the very foundation that has allowed the oil and natural gas industry to see the growth and prosperity it has today, and this has resulted in countless jobs for Texans and Americans,” he said.

Staples said his industry was most concerned by U.S. proposals to make NAFTA’s investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) voluntary, particularly when oil and gas and companies are putting so much up-front investment on the line.

“Preserving ISDS means preserving the necessary legal protections in place that defend our property rights, ensure the absence of discrimination, and promise fair treatment from governments while doing business,” he said. “ISDS act as the very backbone to our Constitutional rights, and we must keep them intact and strongly enforced.”

Bob Cash, director of Texas Fair Trade Coalition, showed up with Montserrat Garibay of the Texas AFL-CIO to protest the effect the current deal has had on U.S. and Mexican workers.

“It seemed like there was only one side being presented at this committee hearing, that workers were not invited, any worker organizations,” he said. “NAFTA has been responsible for the loss of 60,000 manufacturing jobs in Texas.”

“The truth of the matter is that workers all over Mexico and the U.S. are losing and the only people that are winning and getting “the best” are the CEOS,” Garibay said.

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