Kaptur, Three House Colleagues Urge People-Centered Approach to Trade Issues
January 3, 2008
NAFTA, which was approved more than 14 years ago but fully implementedonly with the start of 2008, will result in even greater economichardship in coming months, according to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.“NAFTA has had a devastating, negative impact on jobs inAmerica—especially in the manufacturing sector—and an equally damagingimpact on the agricultural sector in Mexico,” said Kaptur.
“We have seen more than one million jobs leave the United States as aresult of NAFTA—and that is a conservative estimate. Unless governmentsquit this race to the bottom and develop a more people-centeredbalanced approach to trade, opposition to NAFTA and globalization willcontinue to rise to new levels throughout the United States and theentire hemisphere.”
Full implementation of NAFTA took effect yesterday when the UnitedStates and Mexico eliminated remaining restrictions on agriculturalexports, including corn, dry edible beans, nonfat dry milk and highfructose corn syrup from the U.S. as well as sugar and certainhorticultural products from Mexico.
Congresswoman Kaptur and three House colleagues—Raul Grijalva(D-Arizona), Hilda Solis (D-California) and Linda Sanchez(D-California) say full implementation will mean more socialdislocation in Mexico and greater immigration to the United States.
In a letter to President Felipe Calderon, Congresswoman Kaptur and hercolleagues urged the Mexican government “to protect Mexican communitiesand the livelihoods of thousands of white corn and bean farmers.” TheU.S. representatives threw their weight behind a proposal by formerMexican Senator Victor Suarez and family farm organizations in Mexicoto regulate the trade of white corn and beans in order to protectinternal production and rural employment and stem the migration ofdisplaced farmers.
“We are concerned...for the economic and social wellbeing of theMexican people,” the four Members wrote in the letter to PresidentCalderon. “(T)he zeroing out of tariffs on white corn and beans is sureto cause further destruction to the most vulnerable sectors of theMexican economy ... We expect more of what we have seen in the earlierphases of NAFTA: more destitution and desperation of campesinos facingvery few options, leading to a stronger drug trade and more migration.”
Congresswoman Kaptur has been a consistent critic of the executiveagreement that was signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton, MexicanPresident Carlos Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroneyand approved by the U.S. Congress in 1993.
She is author of the NAFTA Accountability Act, which would requirethe President to withdraw the U.S. from the trade agreement unlesscertain benchmarks were met. Most of the benchmarks were initiallypromised by proponents of the agreement, including gains in U.S. jobsand living standards, increased U.S. domestic manufacturing, strongerhealth and environmental standards, especially with respect to foodimports, decreased flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada, andthe guarantee of Mexican democracy and human rights.
Kaptur said Acting U.S. Agriculture Secretary Chuck Connerreflected “alarming insensitivity to displaced workers in all threecountries” yesterday when he described NAFTA as “a remarkable successstory.”
The truth is that NAFTA turned an American trade surplus into alarge and growing trade deficit with Mexico,” Kaptur said. “The red inkstarted flowing a year after NAFTA took effect and has increasedsteadily over the past 14 years. Last year’s trade deficit with Mexicoexceeded $64 billion, and 2007 will set yet another new record,probably more than $70 billion in the red.”
“We have seen more than one million jobs leave the United States as aresult of NAFTA—and that is a conservative estimate. Unless governmentsquit this race to the bottom and develop a more people-centeredbalanced approach to trade, opposition to NAFTA and globalization willcontinue to rise to new levels throughout the United States and theentire hemisphere.”
Full implementation of NAFTA took effect yesterday when the UnitedStates and Mexico eliminated remaining restrictions on agriculturalexports, including corn, dry edible beans, nonfat dry milk and highfructose corn syrup from the U.S. as well as sugar and certainhorticultural products from Mexico.
Congresswoman Kaptur and three House colleagues—Raul Grijalva(D-Arizona), Hilda Solis (D-California) and Linda Sanchez(D-California) say full implementation will mean more socialdislocation in Mexico and greater immigration to the United States.
In a letter to President Felipe Calderon, Congresswoman Kaptur and hercolleagues urged the Mexican government “to protect Mexican communitiesand the livelihoods of thousands of white corn and bean farmers.” TheU.S. representatives threw their weight behind a proposal by formerMexican Senator Victor Suarez and family farm organizations in Mexicoto regulate the trade of white corn and beans in order to protectinternal production and rural employment and stem the migration ofdisplaced farmers.
“We are concerned...for the economic and social wellbeing of theMexican people,” the four Members wrote in the letter to PresidentCalderon. “(T)he zeroing out of tariffs on white corn and beans is sureto cause further destruction to the most vulnerable sectors of theMexican economy ... We expect more of what we have seen in the earlierphases of NAFTA: more destitution and desperation of campesinos facingvery few options, leading to a stronger drug trade and more migration.”
Congresswoman Kaptur has been a consistent critic of the executiveagreement that was signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton, MexicanPresident Carlos Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroneyand approved by the U.S. Congress in 1993.
She is author of the NAFTA Accountability Act, which would requirethe President to withdraw the U.S. from the trade agreement unlesscertain benchmarks were met. Most of the benchmarks were initiallypromised by proponents of the agreement, including gains in U.S. jobsand living standards, increased U.S. domestic manufacturing, strongerhealth and environmental standards, especially with respect to foodimports, decreased flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada, andthe guarantee of Mexican democracy and human rights.
Kaptur said Acting U.S. Agriculture Secretary Chuck Connerreflected “alarming insensitivity to displaced workers in all threecountries” yesterday when he described NAFTA as “a remarkable successstory.”
The truth is that NAFTA turned an American trade surplus into alarge and growing trade deficit with Mexico,” Kaptur said. “The red inkstarted flowing a year after NAFTA took effect and has increasedsteadily over the past 14 years. Last year’s trade deficit with Mexicoexceeded $64 billion, and 2007 will set yet another new record,probably more than $70 billion in the red.”