Bad for Workers, Bad for the Environment, Bad for Public Health, and Full of Corporate Handouts
The Trump administration’s current text of the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) fails to include critical changes needed to protect jobs, raise wages, defend human rights, safeguard the environment and promote public health. While progress has been made in some important areas, substantial setbacks and special interest giveaways are also included. Much work needs to be done to ensure a new agreement that truly works for people and the planet.
Factsheets and Resources
- AFL-CIO NAFTA Statement: “A NAFTA Deal Should Create Jobs, Protect Our Environment and Safeguard Democracy” (Oct. 1, 2018)
- Association for Accessible Medicines Summary of Problems with Trump’s NAFTA: “The trade agreement–now called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA)–will decrease competition from more affordable generic and biosimilar medicines and keep patients paying high drug prices for longer.”
- Center for American Progress NAFTA Report: “The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), President Trump’s 2018 revision to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), misses the chance to place workers at the center of U.S. trade priorities. Congress should insist on an approach that does.”
- Citizens Trade Campaign Factsheet outlining the shortcomings of Trump’s revised NAFTA deal and needed changes to ensure a strong agreement that truly benefits workers and the environment.
- Citizens Trade Campaign Letter from 1000+ Civil Society Groups: A strong and diverse cross-sector collection of more than a thousand labor, environmental, family farm, consumer, civil rights, faith, small business, public health and community groups has sent a unified message to the Trump administration that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation must prioritize working families, public health and the environment over corporate profits.
- Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy NAFTA portal of resources summarizing Trump’s revised deal, and outlining ways that NAFTA has subverted local democracy and benefited corporate agribusiness over farmers, consumers, and communities in all three countries.
- National Farmers Union summary of problems that persist for family farmers under Trump’s new NAFTA deal.
- Public Citizen’s NAFTA website offering history of the original agreement, analysis of its impacts, news summaries on the recent renegotiations, and shortcomings of Trump’s current deal.
- Sierra Club’s Oppose Trump’s NAFTA website offering videos, resources, and analysis. According to the Sierra Club, Trump’s NAFTA as written would “encourage further outsourcing of pollution and jobs, offer special handouts to notorious corporate polluters, lock in fossil fuel dependency, and extend Trump’s polluting legacy for years.”
CTJC and CTC Press Releases
- 1,000+ Civil Society Groups Outline Shared NAFTA Renegotiation Demands (CTC, March 21, 2018)
- Trump’s NAFTA Plan Breaks Promises, Betrays Working People and the Environment (CTJC, July 18, 2017)
- NAFTA Negotiations Must Protect Workers and the Planet — Not Revive Failed TPP (CTJC, May 18, 2017)
- Oakland Leaders Call for a New NAFTA Benefiting People and the Planet (CTJC, April 20, 2017)
- Trump’s Weak NAFTA Tweaks Reveal Administration’s Trade Hypocrisy (CTJC, April 4, 2017)
- NAFTA Renegotiation Must Prioritize Workers and Community Health Across Borders, Say Sacramento Labor and Environmental Advocates (CTJC, February 23, 2017)
- California Coalition Urges Trump to Prioritize Workers and the Environment in NAFTA Renegotiations (CTJC, January 24, 2017)