Oppose Nafta 2.0

better deal, please sign on here.  Thanks!  — Arthur

Early next year, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) will publish a formal report on expected impacts from the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) revision.  This report will be used by Congress to make decisions about whether to support NAFTA 2.0 as written or to demand further changes.

TAKE ACTION: Please join us in urging that the official report on NAFTA 2.0 highlight its failure to include critical changes needed to protect jobs, raise wages and promote healthy communities.

Each week, NAFTA continues to destroy livelihoods across the continent.  Unfortunately, the revised NAFTA deal currently on offer would continue to facilitate the outsourcing of jobs, the suppression of wages and the dumping of toxins.  Among other problems, it also takes big steps backwards on access to medicine.

We need Congress to insist on substantive changes to the proposed text before there’s a real NAFTA replacement that working people can be happy about.  An accurate USITC report would help bolster that effort.

The USITC is now accepting official public comments on the NAFTA proposal.  Please sign onto our commentsurging the USITC to explicitly acknowledge that:

• NAFTA 2.0’s lack of strong, easily-enforced labor and environmental standards has a real cost. Without such provisions, the revised NAFTA will continue to help big corporations move good-paying jobs to Mexico to take advantage of sweatshop wages, ongoing worker rights abuses and the ability to pollute with impunity.  

• NAFTA 2.0’s expansion of pharmaceutical monopolies has a real cost. Worse than the original NAFTA, new language in the current proposal would lock-in bad policies that keep healthcare costs high in the United States, and make it harder for affordable, generic medicines to reach those who need them at home and abroad.  

• NAFTA 2.0’s refusal to address climate change and end environmentally-destructive practices has a real cost.  Not only does the current text fail to even mention climate change, but it also contains special loopholes for some of the planet’s worst corporate polluters that would allow destructive practices to continue unchecked and could potentially undermine future attempts to tackle the climate crisis.

I’ll be honest .  The USITC does not have the best track-record of predicting the outcomes of proposed trade agreements.  But a summary of the comments you submit will be included in the final report sent to Congress.  Submitting comments on the NAFTA proposal now is an easy way to ensure that policymakers are hearing your demands for a comprehensive NAFTA replacement, instead of just the demands of corporate interest groups.

ACT NOW: Please urge researchers to provide an honest assessment of how the current NAFTA 2.0 proposal would affect jobs, wages, income inequality, healthcare costs and other aspects of the economy.

Together, we can make a difference.

Many thanks,

Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director
CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN