NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a comprehensive, groundbreaking free trade and investment agreement between Canada, Mexico and the USA, took effect on 1 January 1994. Recently it has been renegotiated and replaced by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
NAFTA was an expansion of the 1989 Canada-US Trade Agreement (CUSTA) and is seen as a landmark in setting higher standards in a range of areas, including agriculture, investment, intellectual property, and services.
Dubbed a “death sentence” for Mexico’s campesinos and Indigenous Peoples, NAFTA sparked strong and sustained people’s resistance in Mexico, including the Zapatista uprising. Since taking effect, cheap, subsidized US corn has flooded the market, priced below the cost of production, with which campesinos cannot compete.
Almost two million jobs were lost in Mexico’s agriculture sector in NAFTA’s first ten years. This has led to massive displacement, poverty, and hunger.
NAFTA’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism - in which an investor from one signatory country can sue the government of another signatory country for actions or omissions which it claims to interfere with its right to make a profit - has raised concerns about the way in which the agreement furthers the interests of transnational corporations, and limits the capacity of governments to regulate the economy for social, environmental or other reasons.
The ISDS mechanism has taken a toll on Mexico and Canada, which have been sued respectively 20 times and 27 times, mostly by US investors.
NAFTA has also been criticized for boosting low wage and working conditions jobs, especially along the US-Mexico border, where over 3,000 maquiladoras employ over a million Mexicans, mostly women who earn about US$5 a day.
On 1 January 2008, the last agricultural tariffs were eliminated under NAFTA and small farm organizations in Mexico declared “all-out war” on the trade agreement, arguing that the country’s food sovereignty and security are in peril. Massive peasant demonstrations against NAFTA were held throughout Mexico in early 2008.
The 2016 Trump presidential campaign called for NAFTA’s termination. But instead, the new US administration decided to tweak the deal and started the renegotiation process in May 2017.
The USMCA was signed on 30 November 2018, after the US clinched separate deals with Canada and Mexico. Mexico ratified the agreement in June 2019. Ratification is pending in Canada, but stalled in the US, due to concerns of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives over workers rights, the environment and issues related to pharmaceuticals.
The USMCA has been criticized for going even further towards trade liberalization than NAFTA. Small farmers’ organizations say that it will privilege large agribusiness corporations over family farmers and the environment (including climate change). Public information about chemicals used in agriculture and food labeling will also be limited. In May 2017, many groups met in Mexico City and called for a new model of integration, cooperation and exchange among nations that respects human, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.
The new NAFTA follows the US-proposed language on intellectual property and e-commerce in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – now Comprehensive and Progressive TPP without the US. It will force Mexico to join the UPOV91 Convention - plant variety protection patent-like rules which prevent farmers from saving and exchanging seeds. The deal provides a minimum of 10 years of marketing exclusivity for cutting-edge biologic medicines, which include many new cancer treatments and even vaccines, beyond the 20 years of patent protection stated in TRIPs (Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights) standards. It also restricts data localization policies and bans restrictions on data transfers across borders, procedures that can be used to keep sensitive personal information, such as health data, within local jurisdictions.
Negotiators claim to have secured sweeping progress on labour protection However, no clear enforcement mechanism is set down so these are little more than voluntary guidelines.
The ISDS mechanism between the US and Canada, and between Mexico and Canada has been removed – even though it is included in the TPP, to which both countries belong. New procedures replace the ISDS between the US and Mexico. Expansive rights for investors are mostly terminated. Only limited claims are allowed after exhaustion of local remedies. But the ISDS mechanism has been maintained between the two countries for claims pertaining to Mexico’s oil and gas sector.
The text of the agreement: https://www.bilaterals.org/?united-states-mexico-canada
last update: September 2019
Articles
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11-Oct-2019 Nacla Maquiladoras and the exploitation of migrants on the border
The signing of NAFTA in 1994 expanded the viability of the maquiladora industry. More importantly, it served to deepen uneven economic and political relationships between Mexico and the United States. -
25-Sep-2019 El Economista Demócratas activan pláticas para llevar el T-MEC a votación
Esta semana se abrirán diálogos entre la Casa Blanca y un grupo de demócratas de la Cámara de Representantes. -
16-Sep-2019 La Jornada Seguirá rechazo al T-MEC si no mejora el capítulo laboral: Trumka
El dirigente de la mayor central de trabajadores de EU sostuvo un encuentro con el presidente AMLO. -
13-Sep-2019 Radio Canada L’accord de libre-échange nord-américain doit être amélioré, selon les démocrates
Beaucoup reste à faire avant que les démocrates américains ne soient prêts à voter sur l’approbation du nouvel accord de libre-échange nord-américain liant le Canada, les États-Unis et le Mexique. -
12-Sep-2019 Reuters Top US trade official submits USMCA ideas to Democrats: lawmakers
The long-awaited response from US Trade Representative sets the stage for weeks of intense negotiations before a congressional vote on the agreement. -
11-Sep-2019 CityNews US farmers’ group says pharma, not dairy, is main obstacle to ratifying USMCA
The National Farmers Union says the new deal’s extended patent protection for new pharmaceuticals must be reduced so that less expensive generic versions of new drugs can be available to consumers sooner. -
11-Sep-2019 Radio Canada Libre-échange : des agriculteurs américains s’inquiètent de l’accès aux soins de santé
La National Farmers Union affirme que la protection élargie des brevets pour les nouveaux produits pharmaceutiques doit être réduite. -
10-Sep-2019 La Vía Campesina La Vía Campesina-América del Norte: denunciamos el acuerdo por socavar la Soberanía Alimentaria
El primer Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) devastó comunidades rurales en Estados Unidos, Canadá y México. Este experimento con libre comercio resultó rentable para las corporaciones multinacionales y fue nocivo para quienes laboran en el campo. -
5-Sep-2019 Spuntnik ¡Alerta México! El neocolonialismo se reinventa en el T-MEС
"Los textos del T-MEC y sus anexos conforman cientos de páginas, donde el capítulo de propiedad intelectual es apenas una parte, pero suficiente para constatar que EEUU ha logrado imponer sus reglas neocoloniales, constituyéndose esto en un peligroso antecedente". -
4-Sep-2019 La Via Campesina L’ACEUM dresse les populations rurales de chaque pays les unes contre les autres : Via Campesina Amérique du Nord
Nous considérons quel’Accord Canada-États-Unis-Mexique constitue une atteinte à la dignité des travailleurs, travailleuses et familles agricoles, des populations autochtones et des collectivités et territoires dans lesquels nous vivons. -
4-Sep-2019 Reuters US Democrats concerned about USMCA enforcement, Pelosi tells Canada’s Trudeau
Democrats’ key concerns are labor standards, prescription drug prices, environmental protections and concrete enforcement mechanisms. -
3-Sep-2019 La Via Campesina USMCA pits rural people in each country against one another: Via Campesina North America
We see the revision of NAFTA – rebranded as the USMCA (or T-MEC) – as another failure to respect the dignity of farmworkers, family farmers, Indigenous people, and the communities and territories in which we live. -
30-Jul-2019 Seattle Times Trump administration, Democrats make progress on new NAFTA
Congressional Democrats appear to be moving from “no way” to “maybe” on President Donald Trump’s rewrite of a trade pact with Canada and Mexico. -
16-Jul-2019 IATP Farm and food groups to Congress: Reject the USMCA
We urge you to reject the USMCA and instead insist on new trade rules that would serve the interests of family farmers, ranchers, indigenous communities, farm and food chain workers, consumers and our environment in all three nations. -
15-Jul-2019 The Conversation The ‘giant sucking sound’ of NAFTA: Ross Perot was ridiculed as alarmist in 1992 but his warning turned out to be prescient
What Americans need is trade between the US and Mexico that benefits people in both countries. To do that, labor rights need to be harmonized to the best standards in North America, not slide to the lowest. -
11-Jul-2019 CNBC White House is likely to send USMCA trade deal to Congress after Sept. 1, sources say
The move sets up a vote on President Donald Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement by the end of the year. -
9-Jul-2019 CCPA Beyond NAFTA 2.0: A trade agenda for people and planet
The report critically analyzes the USMCA and sets out alternatives that would give priority to human rights and the rights of nature over corporate rights. -
5-Jul-2019 Press Herald House Democrats call for revival of meat labeling law
A meat labeling law repealed three years ago may be making a comeback as some lawmakers call for it to be added to the proposed trade pact designed to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. -
26-Jun-2019 CNN Democrats to meet with US trade representative over USMCA
House Democrats reiterated their demand on Tuesday afternoon that substantive changes to the deal must be made to the underlying agreement. It’s an idea administration officials have rejected. -
26-Jun-2019 IATP New NAFTA limits labeling for food and workplace chemicals
A major focus throughout the agreement is an obvious effort to limit information provided to consumers and workers about food ingredients and nutrition, as well as the chemicals used in agriculture, consumer products and workplaces.
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NAFTA Portal
IATP’s NAFTA Portal gathering over 25 years of research and analysis -
NAFTA Secretariat
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NAFTA website
Official website of the North America Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US (in English, French and Spanish) -
Replace NAFTA
Negotiated behind closed doors with hundreds of corporate advisors, NAFTA has caused mass job loss and pushed down wages nationwide. -
Sin maiz, no hay pais
Campaña Nacional en defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria y la reactivación del Campo mexicano -
Stop the SPP! Arrêter le PSP!
The Outaouais Ottawa Stop SPP coalition consists of individuals and groups who have come together to mobilize for the Bush-Harper-Calderon meeting in Montebello, Quebec on August 18-21, 2007. -
Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos (TPP) México
El TPP México tiene como finalidad visibilizar la situación de violencia estructural imperante vivida en México a raíz de la firma de numerosos tratados del libre comercio, e intentar desnudar los mecanismos de simulación y desvío de poder que sistemáticamente ejerce el Estado mexicano para mantener en pie dicha política económica. -
USTR: Comments on NAFTA renegotiation
USTR page for public comments of negotiating objectives regarding modernization of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico
