[CTC] Hundreds of business leaders call on Trump to stick with NAFTA

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Two articles below...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta/u-s-chamber-warns-u-s-demands-could-torpedo-nafta-talks-idUSKBN1CF0WV <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta/u-s-chamber-warns-u-s-demands-could-torpedo-nafta-talks-idUSKBN1CF0WV>
 
U.S. Chamber warns U.S. demands could torpedo NAFTA talks
Reuters Staff
OCTOBER 10, 2017 / 5:05 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
3 MIN READ
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Trump administration on Tuesday to moderate its stance in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, describing some of Washington’s demands as “poison pill proposals” that could doom the talks.

Thomas Donohue, the chamber’s president and chief executive, will raise a red flag about the progress of the negotiations, according to advance excerpts of a speech he was due to make in Mexico City on Tuesday morning.

The group has argued repeatedly in recent weeks that NAFTA is critical to U.S. industries such as agriculture and manufacturing.

“There are several poison pill proposals still on the table that could doom the entire deal,” Donohue said in remarks to be delivered at an event hosted by AmCham Mexico. “All of these proposals are unnecessary and unacceptable.”

The U.S. Chamber did not specify what the most contentious proposals were in the excerpts of the speech, but a number of thorny issues have been highlighted by the Mexican and Canadian governments and the U.S. private sector in recent weeks.

    These include U.S. exploration of imposing national content requirements for some products, not just regional thresholds, within certain sectors of industry, such as carmaking.

    Auto makers in Mexico say excessive content requirements could do serious damage to the industry’s competitiveness.

    In addition, U.S. officials have mooted incorporating a sunset clause in NAFTA that would kill it unless it was renegotiated every five years, as well as eliminating a key dispute resolution mechanism, much to the dismay of Canada.

The U.S., Mexico and Canada began renegotiating the 23-year-old trade pact this summer, with a fourth round of talks kicking off this week in Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if he does not win concessions to reduce a U.S. trade deficit of around $64 billion with Mexico.

But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has consistently stressed the pact’s importance.

“The existential threat to the North American Free Trade Agreement is a threat to our partnership, our shared economic vibrancy, and clearly the security and safety of all three nations,” Donohue said.

In recent months, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has shown a willingness to stand up to the Trump administration’s more extreme proposals, often echoing Mexico’s positions.

“I also want it to be clear that the U.S. business community is committed to Mexico, and no matter what happens, we’re not going anywhere,” Donohue said.

Reporting by Dave Graham; writing by Julia Love; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article177956951.html <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article177956951.html>
 
Hundreds of business leaders call on Trump to stick with NAFTA

BY FRANCO ORDOÑEZ
fordonez at mcclatchydc.com <mailto:fordonez at mcclatchydc.com>
OCTOBER 10, 2017 8:00 AM

WASHINGTON 
Hundreds of business leaders from all 50 states have joined forces to increase pressure on President Donald Trump to remain in NAFTA.

In a letter signed by more than 310 state and local chambers of commerce, the business leaders urged Trump to update and improve, but not end, the 23-year-old trilateral agreement with Mexico and Canada that, the leaders say, has contributed to $1.2 trillion annually in trade.

“We recognize that this agreement is a quarter century old. It makes sense to modernize it,” said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. “But for the love of God don’t do any harm to something that has been so economically beneficial to states all across America.”

As negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico prepare to kick off a fourth round of talks on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., a feud broke out last week between Trump and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the size of the stakes came into sharp focus.

It’s a crucial round in the negotiations as each country’s trade representatives are expected to introduce specific proposals on controversial items, including rules of origin thresholds that would require products treated favorably under the pact to include higher levels of U.S.-produced content and a sunset clause that would automatically terminate the agreement after five years unless all three member countries agreed to extend it.

U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue traveled to Mexico Tuesday to “ring the alarm bells” about the administration’s “unnecessary and unacceptable” proposals.

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According to prepared remarks he will deliver to a group of business leaders in Mexico City, Donohue will explain that he was “cautiously optimistic" when negotiations began, but now sees White House demands as "poison pills" that could scuttle the deal.

"We’ve reached a critical moment," Donohue said, according to the text of the remarks. "And the Chamber has had no choice but to ring the alarm bells."

Last week, the Trump administration responded to similar complaints by accusing the chamber of being part of the entrenched Washington elite fighting his work to “drain the swamp.”

“The president has been clear that NAFTA has been a disaster for many Americans, and achieving his objectives requires substantial change,” Emily Davis, spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said in response. “These changes of course will be opposed by entrenched Washington lobbyists and trade associations.”

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Washington-based Council of the Americas, said it’s about time that the business community has gotten more involved. Business leaders need to make their voices heard at this critical stage, he said, but it’s unclear whether the Trump administration will listen.

“The business community finally recognizes that NAFTA is at risk,” Farnsworth said. “This is not a drill.”

Canada and Mexico are two of the top three trading partners with the United States and they are America’s two largest export markets. Indeed, the United States exported more than twice as much to Canada and Mexico individually as it did to China in 2016, according to U.S. government data <https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/top1612yr.html>.


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