<div dir="auto"><div style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px" dir="auto"><div style="width:380.19px;margin:16px 0px"><p><br></p><p style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(44,44,44)">Why isn't Trump serious about fixing NAFTA?<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif">By Lori Wallach, Sister Simone Campbell<u></u><u></u></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif"><a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/467307-why-isnt-trump-serious-about-fixing-nafta" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)">https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/467307-why-isnt-trump-serious-about-fixing-nafta</a><u></u><u></u></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif">10/24/2019<u></u><u></u></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Fixing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is one of few goals Donald Trump shares with congressional Democrats. But Trump’s if-you-investigate-I-won’t-legislate tantrum threatens enactment of a revised NAFTA.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">The two of us, a Catholic Sister and a consumer advocate both committed to social justice, have long advocated for NAFTA’s replacement given the <a href="http://infographic.replacenafta.org/nafta-at-25-promises-vs-reality/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">pact’s ongoing damage</span></a> throughout North America.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">But the NAFTA 2.0 deal <a href="https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">President Trump</span></a> signed last year wouldn’t raise wages in Mexico or <a href="https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/agreements/FTA/AdvisoryCommitteeReports/Labor%20Advisory%20Committee%20on%20Trade%20Negotiations%20and%20Trade%20Policy%20%28LAC%29.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">stop race-to-the-bottom U.S. job outsourcing</span></a>. And Trump added new monopoly rights for pharmaceutical corporations to NAFTA that would lock in high drug prices here and raise them in <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/usmca-will-increase-the-medicine-prices-in-mexico" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Mexico</span></a> and <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/04/11/usmca-and-drug-costs-time-to-stand-up-to-big-pharma/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Canada</span></a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Immediately after a revised deal was announced, congressional Democrats <a href="https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/2719-2" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">began urging</span></a> the administration to eliminate the <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/NAFTA-Meds-Fact-Sheet-Final.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Pharma giveaways</span></a> and to strengthen the pact’s <a href="https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2018-09/LAC%20Report%20NAFTA%20Final%20Final%20PDF.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">labor and environmental provisions</span></a> and their enforcement. The latter is necessary for a new pact to counteract NAFTA’s outsourcing of jobs and pollution. They also called on Mexico to implement labor reforms so a new deal could actually deliver improvements for workers there and here.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">But for nine months, the administration refused to change a single word of what Trump rebranded the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Now, even as <a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/neal-statement-trade-working-group-progress-and-report-speaker-pelosi" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">administration officials have begun to work with congressional Democrats</span></a> on necessary changes, Trump could sink the process.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">The president alternatively threatens that he cannot <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-80/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">work with Democrats if they investigate him</span></a> and tries <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-nafta/trump-says-impeachment-inquiry-could-derail-trade-deal-mexico-markets-slump-idUSKBN1WA2C7" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">to blame</span></a> Democrats for delays caused by the administration not making the changes needed to garner a congressional majority.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Eager to shift attention from Trump’s calls for foreign interference in our elections, GOP congressional leaders have joined in. Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://thehill.com/people/mitch-mcconnell" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Mitch McConnell</span></a> (R-Ky.) even <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2019/09/26/senate-section/article/S5713-7" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">claimed</span></a> Democrats are too busy investigating Trump to pass USMCA. That’s rich coming from someone who has buried reams of legislation that the House passed this year.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Despite these histrionics, Democrats are continuing to work with the administration to fix NAFTA, which says a lot about their zeal to stop NAFTA’s considerable damage.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">The U.S. Department of Labor has certified just under <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/nafta_factsheet_deficit_jobs_wages_feb_2018_final.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">1 million U.S. jobs as lost to NAFTA</span></a>, with more jobs outsourced to Mexico weekly. Unless the NAFTA 2.0 labor and environmental standards and their enforcement are significantly strengthened, the race to the bottom will only continue.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Why? The absence of independent labor unions in Mexico means <a href="https://data.oecd.org/natincome/net-national-income.htm" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">real wages there are now lower</span></a> than before NAFTA. Mexican manufacturing wages are <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Mexico-Manufacturing-Wages-Less-Than-China.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">40 percent lower than in China</span></a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">The workers in the Chevy Blazer plant that GM chose to locate in Mexico will earn less per day than their U.S. counterparts made per hour a decade ago and not enough <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/NAFTA-Factsheet_Mexico-Legacy_Jan-2019.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">to cover basic needs</span></a>. That is not only deeply unfair to both U.S. and Mexican workers, it is immoral.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Meanwhile, the new pharma perks make NAFTA 2.0 worse than the original. The pact requires signatory countries to <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/nafta-2.0-pharmaceutical-related-patent-provisions.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">provide extended monopoly rights</span></a> that block the generic competition needed to reduce drug prices. This includes extensions of drug patent monopolies beyond 20 years, guaranteed additional exclusive marketing rights for<a href="https://www.apnews.com/52fd2fe15baf481eac7cfde5d9dbf85d" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)"> biologic drugs</span></a>, and more.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">If these terms become law, they would lock in the policies that make our medicines the most expensive in the world while exporting our bad policies to <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/usmca-will-increase-the-medicine-prices-in-mexico" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Mexico</span></a> and <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/04/11/usmca-and-drug-costs-time-to-stand-up-to-big-pharma/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Canada</span></a>. And yes, this would <a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/canadian-imports-are-not-an-adequate-solution-to-high-u-s-medicine-prices/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">undermine Trump’s own plan</span></a> to import cheaper medicines from Canada.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">It’s not surprising that Big Pharma is bankrolling the <a href="http://infographic.replacenafta.org/pro-usmca-coalition-corporations-are-responsible-for-more-than-500000-trade-related-layoffs/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">corporate campaign to pass USMCA</span></a> as-is. But, a House Democratic majority that prioritizes lowering Americans’ prescription drug costs will not enact a trade deal that <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/lighthizermeds.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">handcuffs them</span></a> from accomplishing that mission.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Trump must decide if he will stick with Big Pharma and <a href="http://infographic.replacenafta.org/pro-usmca-coalition-corporations-are-responsible-for-more-than-500000-trade-related-layoffs/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">corporations that have outsourced hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs under NAFTA</span></a>. That’s who <a href="https://passusmca.org/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">supports USMCA</span></a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Not a single <a href="https://aflcio.org/aboutleadershipstatements/without-fixes-we-must-oppose-new-nafta" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">union</span></a> or consumer group does. But unlike past trade deals, neither the unions nor our groups have pushed to scrap the deal announced last year.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">That is because in the <a href="http://infographic.replacenafta.org/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">original renegotiations</span></a>, U.S. Trade Representative <a href="https://thehill.com/people/robert-bob-lighthizer" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Robert Lighthizer</span></a> made some important improvements, such as largely eliminating NAFTA’s Investor-State Dispute settlement system under which corporations have been paid <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/NAFTA-Factsheet_ISDS_Jan-2019.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">almost $400 million after attacks on environmental and health laws</span></a>. That made it worth fighting to get the rest of the deal right.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)">Now it’s on Trump to decide if he can work with Congress to get something done while he is being investigated and actually fix NAFTA.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15pt;margin-left:0in;background:white"><em><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(43,44,48)"><a href="https://networklobby.org/staff/simonecampbellsss/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Sister Simone Campbell</span></a> is the Executive Director of NETWORK. <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/lori-wallach-director-public-citizens-global-trade-watch/" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(66,133,244)"><span style="color:rgb(43,44,48)">Lori Wallach</span></a> is the Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.</span></em><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman',serif;color:rgb(43,44,48)"> </span></p></div><div style="height:0px"></div></div><br><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Arthur Stamoulis<br>Citizens Trade Campaign <br>(202) 494-8826</div></div>