[CTC] Various statements on NAFTA announcement

Mon Aug 27 12:32:52 PDT 2018

A number of statements on today's NAFTA announcement are below…

Mexican President-elect Lopez Obrador (unofficial translation)

As you are aware, an understanding has been reached in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and the United States and we hope that in the next few days, it will also be with Canada, which is a strategic partnership for us .

In the last month the president-elect’s team has participated in the talks through Dr. Jesus Seade, who is in Washington, DC as an observer of the process.

We see today’s announcement of the “understanding”[between Mexico and U.S.] as a positive step forward.  On the one hand, it reduces uncertainty about the economy and, on the other, it reflects the main concerns raised by the president-elect’s team. Especially, those related to the Mexican energy sector; the labor and salary conditions of our workers and the maintenance of trilateral spaces for the settlement of disputes, as well as the medium term certainty of the Treaty itself.

In the next few days we will continue participating in the trilateral negotiations with the presence of Canada, which, as we have mentioned, is indispensable for the renewal of the Treaty.

Negotiations will continue and we will continue to report on their contents and scope as they advance in the next few days.

It has been difficult at times, with moments of high tension, but we believe that there have been achievements that would favor the economic environment for our country, so we welcome the announced “understanding”.

https://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kaptur-statement-trade-talks-and-tentative-agreement-between-us-and
Kaptur statement on trade talks and a tentative agreement between U.S. and Mexico 
August 27, 2018  Press Release 
Toledo, Ohio – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Dean of the Ohio Delegation and the longest-serving woman in the U.S. House Representatives, released the following statement after news that the United States and Mexico reached a tentative trade agreement on a range of issues.

“Congress must have its say on this Administration’s NAFTA,” said Kaptur. “I hope for a vote of the Congress on whether the President and his team have lived up to the promises he made to America’s workers in his 2016 campaign. Simply, any new North American trade agreement must raise wages and create a level playing field across the board. We must end the job outsourcing bonanza that has taken hold since NAFTA’s passage in 1994.”

“The details and the fine print matter more than a hasty self-proclaimed victory. As someone who fought with all I had to prevent NAFTA’s passage and the trauma it wrought on American workers, I know the devil is in the details. I look forward to reviewing the details of this agreement as well as the issues that remain with Canadian negotiators in the days and weeks to come,” Kaptur concluded.

 http://www.vindy.com/news/2018/aug/27/us-sen-sherrod-brown-mexico-agreement-positive-ste/?nw <http://www.vindy.com/news/2018/aug/27/us-sen-sherrod-brown-mexico-agreement-positive-ste/?nw>

US Sen. Sherrod Brown: Mexico agreement positive step to improve NAFTA

August 27, 2018 

YOUNGSTOWN — After the White House today announced a tentative agreement with Mexico on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said it was an important step forward.

The White House has not yet made text of the tentative agreement with Mexico public. Work to renegotiate NAFTA will continue as the U.S. and Mexico begin negotiations with Canada and continue working toward a finalized agreement.

“We still need to review the text of the tentative agreement with Mexico, but this is an important step forward,” said Brown, a Cleveland Democrat. “I have been working closely with our top trade negotiator, [U.S. Trade Representative] Bob Lighthizer.

"In fact I just spoke to him again late last night. We still have a lot of work to do to bring Canada on board and write the legislation needed to make any deal a reality, and I will keep working with Lighthizer to make sure every detail is right for Ohio workers.”

https://aflcio.org/press/releases/nafta-negotiations-track-not-done

NAFTA Negotiations on Track but Not Done

Joint statement from five labor leaders on the latest North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) news:

NAFTA has had a devastating impact on workers for more than 25 years. We are aggressively engaged in pursuing an agreement that works for working people in all three countries, and we are not done yet. There is more work that needs to be done to deliver the needed, real solutions to NAFTA’s deeply ingrained flaws.

Any new deal must raise wages, ensure workers’ rights and freedoms, reduce outsourcing and put the interests of working families first in all three countries. And working people must be able to review the full and final text and have the confidence not only in the terms of the deal, but its implementation, monitoring and enforcement. We remain committed to working with the administration to get NAFTA right. Our members’ jobs depend on it. But, as always, the devil is in the details.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President
Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers (USW) International President
Gary Jones, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) President
Robert Martinez. Jr., International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers International President
Chris Shelton, Communications Workers of America President

Rushed, Secret NAFTA Deal Unlikely to Deliver for North America’s Communities

Reports Suggest Weak Environmental Standards & Handouts to Corporate Polluters in Haphazard “Deal"
Monday, August 27, 2018
Contact: 
Cindy Carr, cindy.carr at sierraclub.org <mailto:your.name at sierraclub.org>
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, various outlets <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/us/politics/us-mexico-nafta-deal.html?emc=edit_na_20180827&nl=breaking-news&nlid=56497533ing-news&ref=cta> are reporting <https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/27/us-mexico-reach-partial-agreement-resolve-trade-conflict-step-towards-nafta-deal/?utm_term=.b558cbb53a9a> that negotiators from the United States and Mexico announced they reached a preliminary agreement on a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that excludes Canada. Both Mexico and Canada have said that they will not finalize a bilateral deal with the U.S. but rather all three countries will need to agree to a trilateral agreement.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
"Workers, environmentalists, and communities across all three NAFTA nations have demanded a trade agreement that protects jobs, clean water and air, climate, and their rights, not this toxic proposal that was brokered haphazardly and secretly to try and help Trump score political points. Corporate polluters have had unparalleled access to the negotiations while the public continues to be shut out. All we know from these backroom talks is that Trump plans to replace a failed trade deal with one that weakens environmental standards and continues to allow corporations to outsource jobs and pollution to Mexico, harming communities on both sides of the border. If this deal moves forward as is, it will exacerbate -- not relieve -- NAFTA’s decades of damage to North America’s communities.”
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See here for a recent joint statement from leading U.S. environmental groups <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/NAFTA%20Environmental%20Letter%20May%202018.pdf> on what must be included in any NAFTA replacement deal.

Key findings from our report NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters? <https://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2018/04/trump-s-trade-deal-gift-climate-polluters?scv=1524692388083>
NAFTA’s Existing Obstacles to Climate Progress
NAFTA allows corporations to evade climate policies by offshoring their production, pollution, and jobs to countries with weaker climate standards. Policymakers across North America regularly cite this climate pollution loophole as a reason not to enact stronger climate policies, for fear that doing so would spell job loss and a mere exporting of emissions.
NAFTA’s “proportionality” rule locks in tar sands oil extraction and fracking in Canada, while giving investors a permanent green light to finance new tar sands oil pipelines to the U.S. If Canada tries to meet its climate goals but remains bound by this NAFTA rule, the country will produce nearly 1,500 metric megatons more climate pollution by 2050 than if it ditched the rule. This cumulative NAFTA climate pollution penalty is twice Canada’s current annual emissions and more than 12 times greater than its 2050 climate pollution target.
NAFTA has facilitated a fivefold increase in U.S. gas exports to Mexico by requiring those exports to be automatically approved. This has fueled increased fracking in the U.S., expansion of cross-border gas pipelines, and a crowding out of solar and wind power in Mexico. Only 1 percent of Mexico’s electricity comes from solar and wind while half now comes from gas, which has contributed more than any other fuel type to Mexico’s increased climate pollution.
NAFTA could prolong the climate damage from the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks if NAFTA’s private legal system for corporate polluters remains intact. If “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) remains in NAFTA, it could delay or weaken the re-establishment of U.S. climate policies after the Trump administration leaves.

New Climate Threats in NAFTA 2.0?
NAFTA negotiators have explicitly stated that they intend for NAFTA 2.0 to lock in the recent deregulation of oil and gas in Mexico, which has encouraged increased offshore drilling, fracking, and other fossil fuel extraction. A future Mexican government may want to restrict such activities to reduce climate, air, and water pollution. However, NAFTA 2.0 could bar such changes with a “standstill” rule that requires the current oil and gas deregulation to persist indefinitely, even as the climate crisis worsens and demands for climate action crescendo.
NAFTA 2.0 includes expansive rules concerning “regulatory cooperation” that could require Canada, the U.S., and Mexico to use burdensome and industry-dominated procedures for forming new regulations, which could delay, weaken, or halt new climate policies. These rules also could be used to pressure Canada and Mexico to adopt climate standards weakened by the Trump administration, making it harder to resume climate progress in the post-Trump era.

A Climate-Friendly NAFTA Replacement
To allow governments to take climate action without fearing the offshoring of jobs and pollution, NAFTA’s replacement must require each country to enforce robust climate, labor, and human rights protections, in line with the Paris accord and other international agreements. In contrast, the Trump administration is proposing weak environmental standards for NAFTA 2.0, without even mentioning climate change.
To prevent climate and other public interest policies from being challenged in trade tribunals, NAFTA’s replacement must include a broad “carve-out” that shields such policies from challenge, while eliminating ISDS and other overreaching rules. The Trump administration has proposed an opt-out for ISDS, but negotiators have given no indication that they plan to curtail other overreaching rules or exempt climate and other public interest policies from those rules.
To support a just transition to a clean energy economy, NAFTA’s replacement must allow governments to swiftly phase out fossil fuel exports. The deal must eliminate NAFTA’s proportionality rule and the rule that requires automatic U.S. approval of gas exports.

Contact: Chris Palmquist, 712-242-6090
cpalmquist at iatp.org <mailto:cpalmquist at iatp.org>
August 27, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TRUMP'S U.S.-MEXICO TRADE AGREEMENT IS NOT A REAL DEAL
America's farmers and rural communities deserve more than bluster and self-congratulation

MINNEAPOLIS—In response to the announcement of a "deal" between the United States and Mexico on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, IATP Executive Director Juliette Majot issued the following statement:

"Today's announcement that the United States has reached a separate trade deal with Mexico is misleading and is a transparent bullying tactic. Lacking important details and without Canadian participation, it is unclear that anything has really been concluded. The Trump administration's goal appears to be to bully Canada into a trade deal with unfavorable terms before next week's deadline to notify Congress in time for an agreement to be signed by outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. It is highly unlikely that a fair and improved NAFTA can emerge from these divide-and-conquer tactics and such a flawed, secretive process.

"Given the Trump administration's lack of adherence to existing international agreements, a handshake deal can hardly be seen as credible. What little has been released on agriculture makes the dubious assertion that U.S. farmers have benefited from NAFTA and, even worse, promises new rules to lock in the spread of agricultural biotechnology, which would favor agribusiness interests over those of family farmers in each of the three countries."

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Based in Minneapolis with offices in Washington, D.C., and Berlin, Germany, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

Link for sharing: http://www.jubileeusa.org/us_mexico_trade_2018 <http://www.jubileeusa.org/us_mexico_trade_2018>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2018
Religious Development Group Responds to US/Mexico Trade Deal

Washington DC - President Trump announced on Monday that the United States reached a trade deal with Mexico that replaces the previous North American Free Trade Agreement, also known as NAFTA. As the announcement took place, religious groups met with the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on the agreement.

"While we still don't have full details on the agreement, we hope the new agreement ensures greater protections for vulnerable communities than previous trade agreements," noted Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte, who was at the USTR meeting. "We believe we've made some progress."

In May, major US religious groups wrote President Trump and Congress urging that trade agreements protect poor people in trade disputes and ensure access to life-saving drugs. The statement was issued by Jubilee USA and the Catholic, Episcopal, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran and United Church of Christ Churches.
A final agreement has not been signed and would need to be approved by Congress. Canada may also join the negotiations on a final or separate agreement.

Read the statement NAFTA and International Public Health: An Interfaith Call for Access to Medicines <http://www.jubileeusa.org/nafta_and_international_public_health_an_interfaith_call_for_access_to_medicines>
Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 650 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA wins critical global financial reforms and won more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people. www.jubileeusa.org <http://www.jubileeusa.org/?e=bcab49a7292edfbbae909ec3270e51b1&utm_source=jubileeusa&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pr_oversight_rel_let&n=3&test_email=1>
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Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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