[CTC] NAFTA Statements (round 4) -- plus deal text

[Arthur Stamoulis]

UAW, IATP and Sierra Club statements below.  Text of deal attached.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




https://uaw.org/statement-uaw-usmca/ <https://uaw.org/statement-uaw-usmca/>
STATEMENT OF THE UAW ON USMCA
Provided final text accurately reflects changes

“UAW members have opposed NAFTA since its inception a quarter century ago because they feared it would lead to the closing of countless manufacturing plants throughout our country and the moving of hundreds of thousands of good U.S. jobs to Mexico. Time has unfortunately proven UAW members right and it is for this very reason we welcomed the renegotiation of NAFTA (also known as USMCA) and pushed for more to be done.

While the final text of the agreement has not been made available for review, we already know that USMCA Is highly unlikely to bring factories back from Mexico, as some have promised.  It will hopefully stop some of the bleeding of U.S. jobs and UAW members will vigilantly monitor enforcement of the agreement to make sure multinational corporations treat their workers right. We will also fight to make sure Mexico fully implements its labor law reforms and puts an end to company unions and sham contracts that pave for U.S. companies to send jobs south of the border.

If the final text reflects the agreed upon language, it has improved significantly from when it was initially negotiated by the Trump administration because of the tireless work of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Ron Wyden, Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Gary Peters and the USMCA working group who fought to strengthen its labor standards and enforcement provisions. I also want to thank Ambassador Robert Lighthizer for his good-faith negotiations.

But to be clear, much more work remains to fight against the offshoring of jobs and the economic inequality that has plagued our country for so long. While trade deals are important, they alone will not cure all our ills.   We need our elected leaders to do much more. The Administration and Congress should start by ending bad tax laws that reward companies for moving jobs abroad and finally fix our labor laws by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO Act), and other measures, to ensure all workers have a right to have voice on the job.”

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INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURE & TRADE POLICY

December 10, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW NAFTA IS LOST OPPORTUNITY TO REFORM CORPORATE TRADE DEALS
Deal Does Not Address the Farm Crisis, But Will Exacerbate Climate Crisis and Jeopardize Health and Public Safety
Minneapolis—The finalized U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (or New NAFTA) announced today after an agreement between House Democrats and the White House retains many of the faults of the original NAFTA, which locks in a system of agribusiness exploitation of farmers and workers in the three participating nations, while worsening the climate crisis.

The original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) promised an economic windfall, but in reality, resulted in devastating losses for farmers and the consolidation of agribusiness and farmland ownership in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. With nearly all agriculture tariffs eliminated under the original NAFTA, New NAFTA will have little impact on agricultural trade. Nothing in the New NAFTA addresses urgent issues plaguing our farm economy: low prices, rising debt and increased bankruptcy. The new deal ignores the requests of farm groups to include mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, which would benefit farmers and consumers.

“New NAFTA does not fix the problems created by decades of unfair trade and increasing corporate concentration in our food system under its predecessor,” said Karen Hansen-Kuhn, program director at the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy. “Rather, it will increase agribusiness exports in a race to the bottom, further limit regulation of food safety and intensify environmental impacts of industrial agriculture – policies that will worsen both farmers’ economic straits and the safety of our food.”
Measures in New NAFTA that open Canada’s dairy market to increased exports from the U.S. will not significantly reduce the vast oversupply of U.S. milk or raise prices paid to U.S. dairy farmers. Instead, the opening will weaken Canada’s successful supply management program, which has achieved market-based prosperity for its farmers. Added regulatory-focused sections will delay and impede the development, enactment and enforcement of protections for consumers, workers and the environment.

This New NAFTA reflects the Trump administration’s denial of the climate crisis, and in fact, creates incentives for the fossil fuel industry to off-shore pollution into Mexico. New NAFTA repeats past mistakes by granting special legal rights to high emitting sectors like the oil and gas industry to challenge future Mexican laws and regulations protecting the environment.

Family farm, healthy foods and fair-trade organizations demanded a replacement for NAFTA that fixes the problems created under the existing trade deal. The new agreement does not respond to these demands, instead perpetuating trade rules that have devastated family farms and expanded corporate control over agriculture and food systems in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Congress should reject this agreement.
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Based in Minneapolis with offices in Washington, D.C., and Berlin, Germany, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. More information on New NAFTA and IATP’s research and analysis of the trade deal can be found at our NAFTA portal.

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SIEERA CLUB
Trump’s NAFTA 2.0: All Signs Point to an Environmental Failure

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today the Trump administration signed a tentative deal with Mexico and Canada to make revisions to Trump’s NAFTA 2.0. While details of the deal are still pending, a factsheet from the House Ways and Means Committee <https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/USMCA%20win%20factsheet%20.pdf> indicates that the deal’s core environmental failures have not been resolved. 

See here for a detailed analysis <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/Trump-NAFTA-Environment-Failure.pdf> of the deal’s apparent environmental failures, based on the Ways and Means summary. 

The Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, and Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to Congress <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/Joint%20NAFTA%20Enviro%20Letter%2012-9-19.pdf> yesterday vowing to oppose any deal that does not make the specific, minimum changes <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/NAFTA-environment-statement.pdf> that environmental groups have consistently called for. Unless those changes are made, the deal would encourage further outsourcing of pollution and jobs, offer handouts to notorious corporate polluters, undermine the Paris Climate Agreement, and cement Trump’s polluting legacy. 

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

"The Sierra Club opposes any deal that perpetuates NAFTA’s legacy of helping corporations dump pollution, outsource jobs, and undermine climate action. 

“In the year since Donald Trump first announced his pro-polluter NAFTA 2.0 deal, he has repeatedly refused to make essential changes that Democrats and the environmental community have consistently called for to protect our climate, air, water, and communities. 

“While we are still awaiting details, today’s deal appears to fall far short of the fundamental changes that Democrats and environmental groups have consistently said are needed to curb NAFTA’s environmental damage. A deal that fails to include binding climate standards would undercut our historic fight to tackle the climate crisis. A deal that fails to include meaningful limits on air and water pollution would encourage more corporations to dump their pollution in border communities and outsource jobs. A deal that offers handouts to corporate polluters would prolong Trump’s polluting legacy well after he is out of office. After 25 years of NAFTA’s damage, our communities cannot afford or accept another pro-polluter deal.”

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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org <http://www.sierraclub.org/>.


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