| Dear Katy, If Republicans and Democrats listened to progressives about NAFTA from the start, they could have prevented the loss of millions of jobs, declining wages and irreparable environmental damage. Now, the Trump regime reportedly struck a preliminary deal with Mexico for a NAFTA replacement, and both countries will team up to push the plan on Canada. Trump's negotiators are desperate for a deal by the end of this week so they can give Congress the required 90-day notice in time to ratify a deal before Mexico's new president is sworn in on Dec. 1.1 According to reports, the agreement between the United States and Mexico takes some steps to reel in corporate power, but there are still alarming corporate giveaways. Before any new deal goes into effect, it will need to be ratified by Congress. Now, during the crucial next few days of negotiations, is the time for members of Congress to demand a NAFTA replacement that puts people and the planet before corporate profits. Tell Congress: No corporate giveaways in new NAFTA. Click here to sign the petition. In his press event announcing the preliminary deal with Mexico, Trump declared victory, calling the agreement "very special," but given Trump's record on trade, special could mean really terrible for workers and the environment.2 In fact, reports indicate that Trump negotiators are surrendering on key principles – for instance, continuing to allow companies with contracts in oil, gas and other industries to attack environmental and health laws before tribunals of corporate lawyers and receive unlimited payouts from our tax dollars.3 What we need is a trade deal that stops the ongoing bleeding from NAFTA while also adding new protections for our environment, creating jobs and raising wages. Any NAFTA renegotiation must: - Completely eliminate the investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS), which surrenders U.S. sovereignty to multinational corporations that can sue our government before a tribunal of three corporate lawyers – ordering taxpayers to pay corporations unlimited sums of money for the loss of expected future profits, especially if they think protections for workers or the environment might undermine corporate NAFTA privileges.
- Include strong and enforceable environmental and labor standards – not the useless rules in deals like the TPP.
- Require all imports meet our safety rules, including environmental and labor protections on imported food, goods and services.
- Preserve Buy American and Buy Local policies, eliminating NAFTA's waivers that allow companies to offshore our tax dollars instead of reinvesting them to create jobs here.
- Remove rules that allow pharmaceutical companies to have extended monopolies on patents, which drive up drug costs.
With national attention on these negotiations, Congress must now exert its influence to demand that any new NAFTA puts people first. Tell Congress: No corporate giveaways in new NAFTA. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/nafta_Mexico?t=7&akid=29827%2E12967895%2EzzeBaP Thank you for speaking out, Kaili Lambe, Organizing Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - David Lynch, Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, "Trump announces separate U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, says Canada may join later," The Washington Post, Aug. 27, 2018.
- Ana Swanson, Katie Rogers and Alan Rappeport, "Trump Says Nafta Deal Reached Between U.S. and Mexico," The New York Times, Aug. 27, 2018.
- Sabrina Rodriguez et al., "Trump embraces Mexico, threatens Canada with trade deal," POLITICO, Aug. 27, 2018.
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