United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard released a statement today after the Administration notified Congress of its intent to begin the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"More than twenty years of NAFTA has failed to bring the promised prosperity for working people, no matter their country,” Gerard said. “In the United States and Canada millions of manufacturing jobs and tens of thousands of plants have closed because of a trade model which put investors and corporate profits over the needs of families and Main Street.”
Gerard noted that the US and Canada have run “consistent trade deficits in goods with Mexico that have only increased since NAFTA went into effect.” In 2016, the US ran a $63.2 billion trade deficit in goods with Mexico, and Canada in 2015 ran a $24.6 billion merchandise deficit, Gerard said.
Additionally, Gerard emphasized that negotiators must “address the economic inequality caused by trade policies that placed corporate rights over the rights of citizens.” Gerard said the USW believes there is a route forward, “but this process must begin and remain more transparent than any previous negotiation.”
Gerard also urged negotiators to lead on a strong “Rule of Origin policy.” As an example, Gerard said leaders should increase the duty-free qualifying threshold to 90 percent domestic content in the automobile industry. “Negotiators should not just look to where materials are assembled to count them for free trade status but how they are made,” Gerard said. “Goods like auto parts and steel from non-NAFTA countries such as China cannot just be nominally modified in a NAFTA partner and count for duty free status.”
Finally, Gerard said NAFTA negotiators must also work towards a common enforcement strategy which will address and create enforceable standards to control currency manipulation, illegal dumping and subsidization, and state owned enterprises. “A future trade agreement must ensure the benefits of trade are not abused by non-party countries,” he concluded.