<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br style="font-size: 13px;" class=""><br style="font-size: 13px;" class=""><div style="font-size: 13px;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983VOCUSHTML" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" class=""><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="2" style="width: 650px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""></font></span><table border="0" cellpadding="5" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""><span class="gmail-aBn" tabindex="0"><span class="gmail-aQJ">Wednesday, July 19, 2017</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Contact: Jonathon Berman, <a href="tel:(202)%20495-3033" value="+12024953033" target="_blank" class="">(202) 495-3033</a>, <a href="mailto:jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org" target="_blank" class="">jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org</a></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><a href="https://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2017/07/trump-charging-nafta-defender-fixing-nafta" target="_blank" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">View as webpage</span></a></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Trump Charging NAFTA Defender with Fixing NAFTA</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Failure to Bring in New Voice Further Confirms Trump Will Fail to Deliver on Promises</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Washington, DC </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">-- Today, the Trump administration announced that John Melle, a nearly 30-year employee at USTR and currently the assistant U.S. trade representative for the Western Hemisphere will lead the U.S. in NAFTA renegotiations. Melle joined the USTR in 1988 -- three years before NAFTA negotiations began -- and has held various positions, including overseeing NAFTA’s implementation. In a 2006 congressional </span><a href="https://ustr.gov/archive/assets/Document_Library/USTR_Testimony/2006/asset_upload_file478_9437.pdf" target="_blank" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">testimony</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, Melle declared NAFTA a “tremendous success”</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">In response, Sierra Club Trade Program Director Ben Beachy released the following statement:</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">“This administration is asking a fox to guard the henhouse by tapping a staunch NAFTA defender to renegotiate the corporate trade deal that he helped oversee. With this announcement, Donald Trump has confirmed that he has no intention of fulfilling his promise to the American people that he would fix NAFTA. Mere tweaks will not suffice for a fundamentally flawed deal that has eroded wages and increased pollution. Workers and communities need a new deal that puts people and planet first, not a redux led by a defender of the corporate status quo.”</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span id="gmail-m_-6186004022986796667gmail-m_8928852279665490983docs-internal-guid-2367cda9-5bf3-8aa1-a749-abd77d66eaff" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">###</span></span></div><p class=""><em class=""><u class=""><strong class="">About the Sierra Club</strong></u></em></p><p class=""><em class="">The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters nationwide. In addition to creating opportunities for people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank" class="">http://www.sierraclub.org</a>.</em></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>