Obama flip flops on NAFTA

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 4:41 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2009 -- 4/20/2009 >>>>>

The Obama administration officially flip flopped on reforming NAFTA. US trade
representative (Ronald Kirk) announced that NAFTA will not be renegotiated.
Kirk made this announcement by a conference call shortly after Obama's trip to
Jamaica for the Summit of the Americans in Trinidad:

"The president has said we will look at all options, but I think
they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,"

So, the Canadians were telling the truth after all. They claimed that Obama
reassured them that all the talk about NAFTA during the campaign was just
rhetoric to appease the public. Obama did have some tough talk though -- like
take this excerpt from a debate with Hillary Clinton:

SEN. OBAMA: I will make sure that we renegotiate, in the same way
that Senator Clinton talked about. And I think actually Senator
Clinton's answer on this one is right. I think we should use the
hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we
actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.
And that is not what has been happening so far.

So what I have said is that we need to have a plan to fix NAFTA.
I would immediately have a trade timeout, and I would take that
time to try to fix NAFTA by making it clear that we'll have core
labor and environmental standards in the agreement.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUKTRE53J68U20090420

No need to renegotiate NAFTA to improve it: USTR Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:06pm BST
By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is not necessary to renegotiate the North American
Free Trade Agreement to honor President Barack Obama's campaign promise to add
stronger labor and environmental provisions, the top U.S.
trade official said on Monday.

"The president has said we will look at all options, but I think they can be
addressed without having to reopen the agreement," U.S. Trade Representative
Ron Kirk told reporters in a conference call on trade issues discussed at the
Summit of Americas meeting this past weekend in Trinidad.

Kirk's statement was the latest indication that Obama would not press for a
full-fledged renegotiation of the 15-year-old North American trade accord,
despite complaints he made about the pact in last year's campaign.

At the height of his primary-season contest against Democratic rival Hillary
Clinton, Obama said the United States should use the "hammer" of threatening
to withdraw from NAFTA if Canada and Mexico did not agree to change the pact.

Obama stopped in Mexico City for meetings with President Felipe Calderon on
his way to the Trinidad meeting. It was his second meeting with Calderon and
followed a February trip to Ottawa to meet with Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper.

All three leaders were "of the mind that we should be looking for
opportunities to strengthen NAFTA, and at an appropriate time I will be
meeting with our colleagues to try to put a little more form to that," Kirk
said.

Although most mainstream U.S. business and farm groups credit NAFTA with
boosting U.S. exports and increasing economic efficiency in North America,
union groups in many manufacturing states blame the pact for heavy job losses.

Obama promised last year to add "enforceable" labor and environmental
provisions to the core of the text agreement and change investment provisions
that critics say give business too much leeway to flout government
regulations.

Kirk did not completely shut the door to a formal renegotiation, but said the
three countries should be able to find ways "to strengthen the agreement"
without opening up the whole pact.

Experts have said it should be possible to add enforceable labor and
environmental provisions to the core text, partly because those issues are
already covered in side agreements.

Meanwhile, Kirk said he expected U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to
soon give Obama his recommendations for resolving a NAFTA dispute with Mexico
over trucking.

Mexico imposed retaliatory duties on $2.4 billion worth of U.S.
manufacturing and agricultural goods after Congress canceled a pilot program
to let Mexican long-haul trucks operate in the United States.

"This is an issue of great concern for us," Kirk said, adding that Obama had
asked his entire economic team to work under Lahood's leadership to resolve
the spat.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Patricia Zengerle)

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