TradeJustice New York Metro

Monthly Update
August 2017

In This Edition:

August Recess Actions: No ISDS in NAFTA Replacement!

August Webinar: NAFTA 2.0: Ask the Experts

Audio

Video

Trade News: NAFTA Negotiating Objectives

Trade News : China and South Korea

Global Trade Policy: Reports and Working Papers

Trade Justice Allies:

The August recess is approaching! Our legislator will be back in their districts, giving us the opportunity to share our views with them on NAFTA renegotiation. Our friends at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch encourage us to ask our legislators to commit to oppose any trade agreements -- including a renegotiated NAFTA -- that contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).� ISDS allows investors in any NAFTA country to demand unlimited sums in compensation for loss of expected future profits when their activities are curtailed by a law, regulation, or court decision. In practice, this has meant endless corporate attacks on public interest laws -- including measures intended to protect wildlife, limit exposure to toxic chemicals, hold tobacco companies accountable for their impact on public health, and more. ISDS also gives corporations a further incentive to offshore jobs, resulting in unemployment, wage suppression, and a labor movement with less negotiating leverage.

What can you do?

1. Watch and share the video of TradeJustice Alliance's July webinar for updates on the fight for a fair NAFTA replacement and a plan of action for the August recess. You can find the July webinar video as well as past webinar videos at http://tradejustice.net/webinarvids. The video's featured presenter is Alyshia Galvez of the Department of Latin American, Latino and Puerto Rican Studies on "Eating NAFTA: Trade and Food Policies and the Destruction of Mexico."

2. Read Public Citizen's "Toolkit: Challenging Corporate Power in Trade Deals" at http://replacenafta.org/toolkit. You can also order hard copies of the toolkit at http://tradejustice.net/kitcards.

3. Sign up to take action! Fill out the webform at http://tradejustice.net/aug17 to let us know what actions you'd like to take during the August recess. We'll follow up by contacting you to provide organizing advice and resources.

4. Reach out to build support in your community for an end to ISDS and a fair replacement for NAFTA. Order copies of Public Citizen's petition cards, signs, stickers, and factsheets� to distribute. You can order copies for free at http://tradejustice.net/kitcards.

6. Share online action action alerts in support of a fair NAFTA replacement. Email these link to your friends and post to social media:
General Focus: http://tradejustice.net/NAFTAgtwalert
Labor Focused: http://tradejustice.net/NAFTAlaboralert
Environment Focused: http://tradejustice.net/NAFTAenvalert

5. Join the Trade Justice Alliance organizing team! We need volunteers to help organize and promote webinars and to mobilize webinar participants to take action. To join the team, attend our weekly planning conference calls on Tuesday evenings 8 PM Eastern / 7 PM Central / 6 PM Mountain / 5 PM Pacific. To join, dial (712) 770-4160 and when prompted enter 802787#. You can also email harriet@tradejustice.net for details on how you can join the team.

6. Register for Trade Justice Alliance's August 20 webinar, "NAFTA 2.0: Ask the the Experts" featuring Michael Stumo (Coalition for A Prosperous America), Celeste Drake (AFL-CIO), Bill Waren (Friends of the Earth), and Trade Justice Alliance's own Harriet Heywood and Hugh Campbell. You can register at http://tradejustice.net/callreg. Help spread the word and invite your friends to the Facebook event for the webinar at https://tradejustice.net/82017.

7. Attend a NAFTA Field Hearing in your area (details at http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/blog/2017/07/27/nafta-field-hearings-town-halls/).

8. Learn more! Listen to the briefing call recording, watch the videos, and read the the articles, statements, and reports linked below.

Audio

NAFTA Renegotiation Briefing Call with Larry Cohen (Our Revolution) and Arthur Stamoulis (Citizens Trade Campaign / Public Citizen, 7/27/17)

Videos

NAFTA Field Hearing with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (Replace NAFTA, 7/24/17)

Mexican Indigenous Governing Council Announces Presidential Candidacy (Otro Norte Es Possible, 7/8/17)

NAFTA Negotiating Objectives

The Office of the US Trade Representative's (USTR) “Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation (Office of the US Trade Representative, 7/17/17)

Friends of the Earth: Trump's NAFTA renegotiation objectives indicate possible stealth attack on public health, food, agriculture (Friends of the Earth, Undated)

Sierra Club: TRUMP'S PROMISED NAFTA "PLAN" KEEPS WORKERS AND COMMUNITIES IN THE DARK (Sierra Club, 7/17/17)

USTR's NAFTA Renegotiation Plan Is Unacceptable: Statements from Civil Society (Citizens Trade Campaign, 7/17/17)

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch: NAFTA Plan Does Not Describe Promised Transformation of NAFTA to Prioritize Working People (Common Dreams, 7/18/17)

CPA Statement on Trump Administration's New NAFTA Objectives. (Coalition for a Prosperous America, 7/18/17)