NAFTA Falls Short on Jobs, Wages, Human Rights and the Environment

Washington, DC — Anticipating Friday’s early-morning signing of a revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the United States, Mexico and Canada, Citizens Trade Campaign’s executive director, Arthur Stamoulis, issued the following statement:

“The Trump administration’s NAFTA proposal fails to include the critical changes needed to protect jobs, raise wages, defend human rights and safeguard the environment.  As much as the White House wants to spin this as a win, a lot more work is needed before there’s a real NAFTA replacement that working families can be happy about.

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“Each week, NAFTA continues to destroy livelihoods across the continent.  As written, the deal on offer would continue to facilitate the outsourcing of jobs, the suppression of wages and the dumping of toxins.  Any final text needs stronger labor and environmental standards with swift and certain enforcement mechanisms added.  While steps forward have been made in other areas, any final proposal without this fundamental fix is a nonstarter.

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“In addition, Trump’s proposal is significantly worse than the original NAFTA on access to medicines.  The world needs trade policies that increase the affordability of life-saving medications — not ones that extend monopolies for pharmaceutical giants and raise healthcare costs.

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“Beyond failing to even mention climate change, the current proposal also seeks to maintain special rights for some of the planet’s most egregious corporate polluters.  A final deal must fully eliminate giveaways that help corporations interfere with environmental, food safety and public health protections.  Additional language is also needed to ensure consumers’ rights to know where and how their food is produced.”