<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 class=""><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p class=""><span style="font-size: 24.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman,Bold'" class="">USW Looks Forward To Working with
USTR to Continue to Improve New
NAFTA-USMCA
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman,Italic'" class="">(Pittsburgh) --United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard issued the
following statement after renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement was
completed.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“The effort to achieve the goal of a fair trade agreement that protects workers </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">in the United
States, Canada and Mexico is far from over.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“There are provisions in </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">the draft agreement between the United States and Mexico that represent
improvements over NAFTA, but there are also provisions that must be removed. Further, we
have not evaluated what changes resulted from the just-concluded agreement to include Canada.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“In the area of workers’ rights, the draft text </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">we have seen includes significant improvements
over the existing NAFTA and is stronger than the rejected Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It
goes farther than any prior trade agreement. That is encouraging, but it is not yet enough. Efforts
to protect the rights of workers in all countries that will be party to this deal are not finished.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“The impact of the deal must be measured not onl</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">y by what is in the final agreement, but also by
what Mexico adopts legislatively to implement its commitments. Also, what will the Trump
Administration and Congress do to ensure that the provisions of any final agreement are
effectively applied, monitored and enforced? Strong text in an agreement backed up by
legislative changes in Mexico will only matter if they are fully and faithfully enforced.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“It is </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">vital to understand that this debate is not about free trade, protectionism or ivory-tower
academic arguments. It is about what will happen to real people. </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">NAFTA’s long</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">-term impact has
been devastating, and reforms are sorely needed.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“The members of the USW, the largest industrial union in North America, </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">have suffered from the
devastating impact of NAFTA on manufacturing and employment in both the United States and
Canada. And workers in Mexico, who now make no more than they did before NAFTA, never
benefited from the massive profits that multinational corporations realized as a result of the
agreement.
</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<img alt="page1image19368" width="73" height="0" apple-inline="yes" id="0ACE0E0A-2E96-434D-9FDF-9B576EB1BF7D" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:58D131D7-A8BE-48F6-BD11-AAEE0B4F98D1" class="">
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 2">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column"><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">The USW and other labor groups have worked closely with </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: rgb(100.000000%, 100.000000%, 100.000000%)" class="">U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">since the United States initiated renegotiation of NAFTA. Labor has provided
concrete and specific recommendations. Ambassador Lighthizer has worked diligently and
seriously to resolve these issues.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“Reversing the negative impact of NAFTA </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">has been a priority of the USW since the day
Congress approved it nearly 25 years ago.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“The key question now is whether this new agreement, when final, will make a measura</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">ble
</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">difference in workers’ lives and whether workers will have confidence in th</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">e new provisions and
the commitment of government to enforce those provisions.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“Also critical is </span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">what provisions will be negotiated relative to the Section 232 actions on steel
and aluminum. From the beginning, the USW has made it clear that Canada should not have been
subject to Section 232 measures. Our economies are integrated, and our national security
interests are intertwined, as are our steel and aluminum markets. The U.S. has no stronger or
more reliable economic and national security partner. The impacts of any provisions in this area
are key concerns not only on a bilateral basis, but for the USW, whose members work in this
sector in both countries.
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">“The USW looks forwa</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">rd to continuing to work with the Administration, Congress and our
colleagues in Mexico and Canada to ensure that a final agreement and all of the implementing
provisions promote broadly-shared prosperity for all workers in North America. We remain
hopeful that the provisions will measure up and are committed to making this happen.</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'" class="">”
</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman,Italic'" 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" class="">www.usw.org</a>.</span></p><p class=""><br class=""></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman,Italic'" class=""> </span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>