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On NAFTA's Tenth Anniversary, Americans Demand Safe, Clean & Fair Trade
Statement by Daniel Seligman, Sr. Trade Fellow, Sierra Club The realization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ten years ago transferred enormous power from democratic governments to multi-national corporations and faceless global market forces. As a result, communities across North America are at a higher risk to dirtier air, unsafe drinking water, and food-borne illnesses. Rather than learn from this historic mistake, the Bush administration is pursuing new trade agreements based on the flawed NAFTA model. We can do better. New trade deals should strengthen, not weaken, environmental safeguards, workers' rights, and democratic values. Let's mark NAFTA's tenth anniversary by moving toward trade policies that are safe, clean and fair. NAFTA's Polluted Legacy NAFTA has given global industries the power to challenge public interest laws that might interfere with profits. Under NAFTA's "investor" provisions, a Canadian gold mining company recently sued the United States to escape the clean up and reclamation of a mine site in California. Additionally, a US toxic waste handler successfully sued the Mexican government for $16 million after a community blocked corporate plans that would dump industrial waste on a site that would threaten local drinking water supplies. If NAFTA-style corporate laws increase, government action that protects the public interest could become too expensive, crippling efforts to safeguard our communities. New rules on "trade in services" could force governments to weaken environmental standards for risky industries, such as trucking, logging, mining, water supply, real estate development, factory farming, and more. For example: To comply with NAFTA's rules on trade in services, the Bush administration recently waived US clean air standards in order to allow trucks based in Mexico to haul freight on US highways. This could increase air pollution in border states, as the aging Mexican truck fleet pollutes more than similar US trucks, and do not use the cleaner fuels required in the United States. Food-borne illnesses linked to imported fruits and vegetables have soared since NAFTA took affect. Scallions imported from Mexico recently caused an outbreak of hepatitis A that killed three people and sickened hundreds more in Pennsylvania. Poor sanitation in Mexico's farm fields is probably to blame. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data show that imported fresh produce is four times more likely to carry harmful bacteria than domestic produce. Yet NAFTA rules require food importing nations to accept the safety certifications of food exporting countries while discouraging border inspections. Bush Trade Agenda Increases Risks Rather than learn from the mistakes of the past, the Bush administration recently struck a deal on the expansion of NAFTA to four Central American countries called the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The administration views CAFTA as a stepping stone to an expansion of NAFTA across the rest of the Western Hemisphere called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). CAFTA and the proposed FTAA would not only give foreign investors new powers to challenge community and environmental safeguards; they could force governments to weaken environmental standards covering a wide-range of risky service industries. Like NAFTA, under CAFTA's provisions governments could be barred from setting limits on mining and logging activities in ecologically sensitive areas, and from requiring agribusinesses to use pesticides safely. CAFTA and the FTAA would also give new meaning to Bush's "faith based initiative," essentially requiring food-importing countries to accept, on faith, the safety of fruit, vegetables, and meat crossing their borders. We Can Do Better A responsible trade policy would open up markets and protect the environment, not expose our communities to new risks:
The American people want their leaders to learn from, and not repeat, the mistakes of the past. Rather than expand NAFTA, we need new trade policies that are safe, clean, and fair. ### |
