Obama Doesn't Plan to Reopen Nafta Talks

[jewishlibrl]

New York Times
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: April 20, 2009

WASHINGTON — The administration has no present plans to reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement to add labor and environmental protections, as President Obama vowed to do during his campaign, the top trade official said on Monday.

“The president has said we will look at all of our options, but I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,” said the official, Ronald Kirk, the United States trade representative. It was perhaps the clearest indication yet of the administration’s thinking on whether to reopen the core agreement to add labor and environmental rules.

Mr. Kirk spoke in a conference call with reporters after returning from a regional summit meeting that Mr. Obama attended over the weekend in Trinidad. He said that Mr. Obama had conferred with the leaders of Mexico and Canada — the other parties to the trade agreement — and that “they are all of the mind we should look for opportunities to strengthen Nafta.”

But while he said that a formal review of the 1992 pact had yet to be completed, Mr. Kirk noted that both Mr. Obama and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico had said that “they don’t believe we have to reopen the agreement now.”

[Demeter]

1. Just Cancel the Whole Thing

Save the countries and screw the corporations.

[stillcool]

2. the headline says it all, doesn't it?

“The president has said we will look at all of our options, but I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,” said the official, Ronald Kirk, the United States trade representative.


He said that Mr. Obama had conferred with the leaders of Mexico and Canada — the other parties to the trade agreement — and that “they are all of the mind we should look for opportunities to strengthen Nafta.”

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Thea Lee, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. policy director, said that the workers federation would have preferred “more definitive” language on addressing key labor concerns, but that it was understandable for a new administration to start its review with a less confrontational approach.

“We were obviously very encouraged by what Obama the candidate was saying on the campaign trail in terms of needing to recognize the deficiencies of Nafta and to strengthen it,” said Margrete Strand Rangnes, a labor and trade specialist with the Sierra Club

[madrchsod]

3. racing to the bottom at full speed

by this time next year we`ll all be singing .."brother can you spare a dime"

[cyclezealot]

4. Obama said ( at G20)international cash will seek out the highest return.

Sorry. Barack , that is not and never be the USA.. Your own words seals our fate. Did you not listen to your own words.
. Hedge funds are the basis of the world's estimated 11 trillion dollars held offshore. With Austan Goolsbe, I knew the primary talk of defending America's jobs was B.S. Without trade reform, we'll all soon be singing , brother can you spare a dime. Too bad, the change promised of 2008 will be our bust.

[cyclezealot]

5. 100,000 protested Nafta in Mexico.

Agriculture has been the basis of the Mexican economy. Now, Maquidilora jobs go to China. If nafta is not good for Mexico, then who is it good for. ?
.
The myths of Free Trade.
.. Mexican Agriculture after
14 Years of NAFTA

Importing food, exporting farmers ...

* Every hour, Mexico receives $1.5 million dollars worth of food imports
* In that same one-hour period, 30 farmers leave Mexico for the United States
* 40% of Mexicans' food is imported
* Over 1.5 million rural jobs were lost in 12 years

A dying countryside...

* Agriculture's share of GDP dropped from 10% to 3.4% between 1981 and 2006
* Rural population dropped from 40% to 30% in that period
* 388 municipalities have become ghost towns due to out-migration
* Genetically modified corn has contaminated native strains
snip
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4794