As you know, renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been at the top of U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda.
While there has been speculation that the negotiations could be put on hold or even collapse, there are now strong indications that what is being described as an “agreement in principle” could be reached by early April.
President Trump is now pushing for a deal to be concluded within weeks, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wants that too, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton says it’s possible and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has commented, “We recognize that the American side is eager to get forward motion on NAFTA. We are too.”
This week, in advance of the 8th round of NAFTA talks expected in late March or early April, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is in Washington for three days of talks with key White House officials and members of Congress.
Recently, President Trump threatened to impose devastating steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada if he doesn’t get the NAFTA deal he wants.
Every signal is that the negotiations are about to become much more intense over the coming few weeks as the U.S. negotiators push for a deal.
The Council of Canadians is calling for a better NAFTA, one that replaces the current deal with an agreement that ends the controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism that has been repeatedly used to undermine environmental protections, removes energy proportionality (rather than expanding it) and commits to a 100 per cent clean energy economy by 2050, removes water as a service, investment and a good and instead recognizes it as a human right along with the United Nations obligations to “respect, protect and fulfill” that right, and that enshrines the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the right to free, prior and informed consent.
In the coming crucial weeks, we’ll be releasing a report made possible because of the generous donations of supporters like you by author-activist Gordon Laxer on why energy proportionality – also known as the mandatory oil and gas export provision – must be removed from NAFTA to address the climate crisis. This is key because the current talks seek to include Mexico under this provision, which would only exacerbate climate change.
And right now, we are trying to get as many signatures as possible on our national petition to tell the Trudeau government that the Chapter 11 investor-state dispute settlement provision must be removed from NAFTA. Big Oil wants Chapter 11 to stay in place, Trudeau appears committed to keeping it too, we want it gone.
If you haven’t already done so, please sign this petition today to send a clear message to Prime Minister Trudeau that transnational corporations shouldn’t have a tool to undo government decisions made in the public interest.
I will continue to keep you informed on the latest developments in this critical campaign. In the meantime, thank you again for fighting for trade that works for people and the planet.
