<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=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="9CC59D38-EB7D-4B49-85F5-51D58133ED84" height="102" width="622" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:image001.png@01D32E25.899000E0" class=""></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">September 15, 2017</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">CONTACT: </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Wayne Ranick: (412) 562-2444, </span><a href="mailto:wranick@usw.org" style="color: purple;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">wranick@usw.org</span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 28pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">USW: Rules of Origin Provision “Critical” in NAFTA Renegotiations</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.959999084472656px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Pittsburgh – The United Steelworkers union (USW) released the </span><a href="http://usw.to/origin" style="color: purple;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">attached document</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> today identifying its position on rules of origin in the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Rules of origin are a critical part of the renegotiations and identify the percentage of content that must be included in products to be eligible for trade benefits. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">News reports indicate that NAFTA negotiators will begin addressing this topic at the next round of negotiations which takes place Sept. 23-27.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The existing NAFTA rules of origin were negotiated more than a quarter century ago and do not reflect current economic reality and sourcing patterns. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The current rules allow for significant amounts of content from outside of North America to be included in a product but still be eligible for the trade agreements’ benefits. Other countries, like China, have been able to ship increasing amounts of products into North America to the detriment of production and employment in North America.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The attached proposal would strengthen the rules and ensure that a new agreement promote growth and opportunity for those covered by the agreement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">To read the USW’s proposal, </span><a href="http://usw.to/origin" style="color: purple;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">click here.</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><i class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors. For more information: <a href="http://www.usw.org/" style="color: purple;" class="">http://www.usw.org/</a>.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">### </span></p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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