Trade
Justice Alliance Newsletter
October
2017
Compiled
by the Trade Justice Alliance Newsletter team
Trade
Justice Alliance Webinar
Sunday,
November 19 / 4:30 Pacific / 7:30 Eastern Time
Trumpism
and the New Global Economy
With
William I Robinson, PhD
This
educational webinar provides a lens through which we can view the
crisis of global capitalism in order to inform our understanding of,
and activism around, NAFTA, globalization and free trade.
To
view event page and sign up go here:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/trumpism-and-the-new-global-economy?referrer=harriet-heywood&source=direct_link
Recent
articles by William I Robinson, PhD:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41365-what-is-behind-the-renegotiation-of-nafta-trumpism-and-the-new-global-
http://greattransition.org/publication/global-capitalism
Trade
News
The
month of October is seeing a lot of action in the Washington area
during and after the 4th round of NAFTA renegotiation.
Corporate lobbyists, members of Congress and heads of state
gather in secrecy and with very little citizen participation to hash
out the details of what has become one of the thorniest issues of the
Trump presidency.
Having
ridden into office co-opting the popular uprising against the TPP,
Trump is talking a possible pullout from the trade deal which he has
coined “the worst trade deal in U.S. history*. Numerous
stakeholders and civil society organizations are voicing demands to
be put on the negotiating table. Chief among them: the
elimination of the controversial corporate ISDS provisions, changes
in the Rules of Origin in the auto industry, and very importantly,
enforceable labor rights and environmental justice issues.
Given
the mercurial nature of Trump’s demands, what can we expect in
the coming months as negotiations continue, and as to the add-ons
after the failed fourth round?
The
neoliberal free traders are applying pressure in attempts to expand
corporate rights before an election year forces their
congress-critters to backpedal on the new “modernized”
NAFTA they envision, designed in the image of the TPP. It looks
like, since the fourth round crashed and burned, the future could
work somewhat in our favor. Join the fun to find out.
NAFTA
Talks Unravel as The Trump trade team attempts to push Mexico and
Canada to include provisions from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP):
http://www.flushthetpp.org/nafta-talks-falter-time-to-increase-pressure/
Native
Americans Push for Indigenous Chapter in NAFTA:
http://www.flushthetpp.org/native-americans-push-for-indigenous-chapter-of-nafta/
Lori
Wallach, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
offers an in-depth analysis on the current state of play between
Trump, his corporate trade team and the USTR, Robert Lighthizer:
http://prospect.org/article/will-trump-really-give-us-better-nafta
IATP’s
Senior Attorney, Sharon Treat who attended the 3rd
NAFTA round in Ottawa discusses her analysis of the speed and nature
of the negotiations so far:
Uprooted
IATP blog audio:
https://www.iatp.org/blog/201710/uprooted-episode-4-update-nafta-talks
Just
when we thought we’d seen the last of the TPP, some
corporate-influenced state actors have different ideas:
https://www.iatp.org/blog/201710/nafta-and-challenge-water-justice
Business
lobbyists jittery under the specter of an uncertain NAFTA:
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2017/10/11/the-nafta-round-to-end-all-nafta-rounds-222747
Moving
to U.S. trade with China, where our imports have run four times
our exports, late in September 2017 U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross is vowing to take on bigger issues to create a "major
change" in the U.S.-China trade relationship.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/commerce-chief-vows-to-tackle-bigger-china-trade-issues/
The
PBS News Hour: “No one is laughing anymore. As Ralph
Gomory puts it in the following post: “The events of the past
year have clearly shown that many Americans, whether Democrats or
Republicans, have finally rebelled against ‘free trade.’”
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/column-americans-right-rethink-free-trade/
Competition
between the Trump Administration’s desire to pass tax-reform
ASAP and to make progress on reducing the U.S. trade deficit prompted
CNBC to publish:
White
House softens trade stance as tax reform fight approaches “We
need the votes there'”
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/white-house-seen-softening-trade-stance-as-tax-reform-fight-approaches.html
Recent
article From William I Robinson:
http://risingpowersproject.com/the-next-economic-crisis/
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