From: [n--e] at [some.machine] (con tributor)
Newsgroups: ca.politics,sci.econ,sci.environment,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: NAFTA via email, FAX, gopher, telnet, wais, www, ftp, US Mail
Date: 19 Nov 93 01:02:51 GMT
Someone mentioned need for a fact sheet, this is a fave:
and dont forget, our House just signed $17mil directly over to Honda
Corp.!
NAFTA IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL -- SUE!
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Composed by Darla Bruno of We The People
(Jerry Brown's social & environmental justice membership organization):
NAFTA Fact Sheet
- Under NAFTA, Canada and Mexico have the right to challenge local,
state, and federal laws as trade barriers. Disputes will be
handled by an appointed board of trade lawyers, unaccountable to
the American people. No appeal is allowed through the U.S.judic-
iary system. Fines levied, if any, will be upon the country, not
upon the company responsible for the violation. In other words,
the taxpayer will pay.1
- The Rules of Origin section states that preferential treatment
will be given to products whose material originates in North
America. To get around this, all foreign countries have to do is
build a factory in Mexico and ship their materials and products
through it. This will give other foreign countries an advantage
over U.S. companies by giving them tariff free access to our
market. Enforcement of this provision is nearly impossible. How
will inspectors know where the product was made by looking at
it?2
- The U.S. must immediately remove tariffs on all vehicles except
light trucks, while Mexico only has to reduce tariffs over a ten
year period. Mexico and Canada can also have domestic content
restrictions, whereby a certain percentage of the vehicles must
be made in their respective countries, the U.S. cannot.3
- The food hygiene standards that must be followed are published by
a United Nations organization known as the Codex Alimentarius
Commission. Codex relies on expertise from the industries that
are to be regulated. The Codex standards are lower than U.S.
standards in many areas. For example, Codex allows 5 times more
heptachlor on broccoli, than the FDA, 10 times more DDT on car-
rots, 50 times more DDT on peaches and 3 times more aldrin on
lettuce. It also allows 25 times more benomyl on carrots than
the EPA, 40 times more permethryn on apples, 3 times more lindane
on strawberries and almost 2 times more aldicarb on bananas. All
companies have to do is load Codex committees with their members
and get lower standards adopted so that they can get food that
doesn't meet U.S. standards into this country. To not allow the
sub-standard food in would be a trade barrier and open to chal-
lenge by Mexico or Canada. The challenge would be decided by a
trinational panel of trade lawyers.4
- Three years after the agreement is ratified, Mexican trucks will
be allowed to operate in this country. They do not have to meet
the same regulations as American truckers. They do not have to
submit to random drug tests. To get a commercial operating li-
cense in Mexico to drive in the U.S. the Mexican driver does not
even have to be able to read English and the licensing tests are
much easier than tests U.S. drivers must pass. A U.S. driver must
be 21, drive no more than 10 hours/day or 60/week and his driving
records are immediately accessible to the U.S. law enforcement
officials. A Mexican driver must be 18, can drive unlimited hours
per day or week and his driving record is not accessible to U.S.
law enforcement officials. In the NAFTA agreement regulations
regarding the transportation of hazardous materials do not have
to be in place until 6 years after the agreement is ratified.
That's 3 years of Mexican drivers on the road without
regulations. There is also the matter that Mexican trucks are
much heavier than our roads and bridges allow. The extra wear and
and tear will mean more repairs and more our tax money to it.5
- NAFTA will eliminate the Buy American Act that requires the fed-
eral government to buy American products. It will also nullify
the Buy American laws of states and cities.6
- NAFTA allows any profits, interest, capital gains, etc. to be
taken home by foreign investors investing in Mexico, making Mex-
ico a very attractive investment indeed. In September of 1992
the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement independent of NAFTA
that reduces the rate of withholding tax on interest earned in
the other country from 15% to 10% for 5 years after ratification,
then to 4.9% thereafter. Mexico's interest rates are currently
between 25 and 30 percent, the U.S. interest rate is approx. 3%.
Where do you think you would earn more interest money?7
- Under NAFTA Canada has the right to review the direct acquisition
by foreigners of all Canadian business assets over $5 million and
indirect investment of $50 million in uranium, oil and gas, fi-
nancial services, entertainment and transportation. Mexico can
review foreign investments of $25 million or over, a figure that
will rise over time. The U.S. has no such rights.8
- Canada can require that U.S. investors transfer technology to
Canada as a condition of doing business there. The U.S. does not
have the right to require that of Canadian investors.9
- A recent Roper Poll of 455 executives of manufacturing firms
showed that 40% said that they would be inclined to move to Mex-
ico if NAFTA passed, 25% said they would use the threat of moving
to Mexico to keep wages down in this country and over 1/3 said
that NAFTA would be unfavorable to the American worker.10
- Pat Choate, an economist with the Manufacturing Policy Project,
stated that a group of investors, Amerimex, plan to buy U.S.
firms that have labor costs that are at least 20% of total costs
that pay more than $7 per hour. They will then move the compan-
ies to Mexico where the labor costs are 1/10 of the costs here.
The increased profitability will make the company easy to sell
for a huge profit. This strategy will put 5.9 million manufact-
uring jobs at risk.11
- Manufacturing jobs aren't the only jobs at risk. Under the
Temporary Entry For Business Persons section of NAFTA, 63 cate-
gories of workers are at risk. Currently, a professional worker
can only enter the U.S. temporarily after certification that a
qualified U.S. worker cannot be found. NAFTA changes that. Pro-
fessionals in these 63 categories may work in the U.S. for an un-
limited amount of time as long as they don't seek citizenship or
permanent residency. In the first year 5,500 per country are al-
lowed in after the first year the U.S. must review the policy and
consider raising the ceiling. If ceiling is not raised another
5,500 can enter the work force. After the 3rd year, if the U.S.
has not raised the ceiling, they must meet with Mexico and Canada
and negotiate. At the end of 10 years there will be no limit on
the number of these "temporary workers" that can enter the coun-
try. Some of the 63 categories are: accountants, engineers,
computer systems analysts, doctors, nurses, college professors,
pharmacists, hotel managers, librarians, therapists (psycholog-
ical/physical), lawyers, animal breeders, interior designers and
architects. The result: if these professionals don't lose their
job outright, they will be pressured into accepting lower salar-
ies under the ever present threat of low-wage contract profes-
sionals from Mexico.12
- In 1992 there was $40.6 billion worth of exports from U.S. to
Mexico, up from $19 the year before. The proponents of NAFTA
often cite this as a reason to pass the agreement. What they
don't say is that $15.5 billion of that figure is in capital
goods, i.e. the factories that left this country and went to Mex-
ico. Over $9.4 billion were industrial supplies that most of
which went into products sold back to the U.S. Over $6.7 billion
were auto parts sent to Mexico to be assembled there after which
the finished product was shipped back to the U.S. That leaves
approx. $8 billion in consumer goods that actually went into the
Mexican economy. Where is the supposedly big market for our
products?13
- Fifty-four percent of the wealth in Mexico belongs to 36 famil-
ies. We've seen the cardboard shacks without electricity, sew-
age, or running water for a large segment of Mexican workers.
Who is left to purchase our products?14
- The studies done by U.S. policy makers projecting a net gain of
150,000 job under NAFTA are inaccurate. They assume full employ-
ment in the U.S. When was the last time we had full employment?
The models used also assume that U.S. companies won't relocate to
Mexico. Awfully big assumption.15
- NAFTA will not stop illegal immigration from Mexico. As Cong-
resswoman Marcy Kaptur has pointed out, the living conditions in
the Maquiladora area are abominable. The Mexican workers are
living in a toxic waste dump and at the meager wages they earn,
the U.S. will always look attractive. Unemployment in the in-
terior of Mexico has increased due to the fact that the new, ef-
ficient U.S. owned factories in the Maquiladora border region can
produce more inexpensively than the Mexican factories. Displaced
Mexican factory workers are migrating north in search of jobs.
Over 800,000 Mexican farmers will be displaced due to a revision
in Mexico's land policy and the fact the Mexican government under
NAFTA will not be allowed to subsidize corn anymore. The U.S.
farmers can grow more corn much cheaper than the Mexican farmers.
The Mexican farmers will not be able to compete. They, too, will
migrate north. So, as you can see the potential for illegal im-
migration will increase under NAFTA.16
- Estimated costs of the environmental clean-up of Mexico's pol-
luted northern region have ranged between $7 and $20 billion.
Guess who is going to end up paying - the U.S. taxpayer. The
U.S. will lose $40 billion in tariff revenue. The Clinton admin-
istration is looking to local, state and private sources for the
money. Sounds like the taxpayer will get hit again.17
- NAFTA will increase drug traffic into the U.S. from Mexico. For-
mer U.S. Customs Commissioner, William Von Raab, has stated that
well-known drug organizations are buying up businesses along the
border to use as fronts to facilitate illegal drug imports to the
U.S. via the expected increase in trade traffic. The State De-
partment released the following information in April:
* 70% of cocaine transits through Mexico.
* Mexico is one of the leading sources for the U.S. heroin
trade.
* Mexico supplies 87% of the world's crop of Marijuana.
* Almost the entire supply of chemicals used to produce cocaine
in South America originate in Mexico.
* Mexico lacks controls on large currency transactions. This
makes it easier to launder drug profits.18
- There are many instances in the agreement where details are to be
worked out at a later time. Details such as anti-trust rules be-
tween the U.S. and Mexico, for example. If we wait until after
the agreement is signed to work out these important details, we
will be negotiating from a position of weakness. There will be
less incentive for Mexico to be agreeable in something that may
be of benefit to the U.S.
This fact sheet only contains some of the NAFTA faults, not all. It
is important to get this information out to people so that they know
the impact of this agreement and can contact their congressman and
demand that he/she vote no on NAFTA. Call friends, neighbors, rel-
atives and everyone you know regardless of state, provide them with
information and urge them to act now! NAFTA must be stopped!
NAFTA Fact Sheet Source List
1NAFTA - Vol. I: Chapter 19, Annex 1901 - 1905.6, Chapter 20 -
Article 2021.
2NAFTA - Vol. I: Annex 300-B, Chapter 4 - Article 402, Chapter 5 -
Customs Procedures, Articles 501, 505 & 506.
3NAFTA - Vol. I: Annex 300-A. National Trade Data Bank - The
Export Connection Item ID: TR NAFTA2 PGM-DESC, 8/28/92, Office of
the U.S. Trade Representative NAFTA Program Description (synopsis)
under section: Automotive Goods, sub-heading Tariff Elimination.
4NAFTA - Vol. I: Chapter 7 - Articles 712 & 713. Save Your Job,
Save Our Country by Ross Perot & Pat Choate p. 83.
5NAFTA - Vol. II: Annex-I p. I-U-20. Save Your Job, Save Our
Country by Ross Perot & Pat Choate pp. 4 - 5.
6NAFTA - Vol. I: Chapter 10 - Articles 1001 & 1003. National
Trade Data Bank - The Export Connection, Item ID: TR NAFTA2 PGM-
DESC, 8/28/92, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative NAFTA
Program Description (synopsis) under section: Land Transport,
sub-heading Technical and Safety Standards.
7NAFTA - Vol. I: Chapter 11 - Article 1109. Financial World,
article by Jennifer Reingold 2/16/93 pp. 40 - 41.
8 NAFTA - Vol. II: Annex I pp. I-C-2 - I-C-6, I-M-4 - I-M-5.
9NAFTA - Vol. II: Annex I p. I-C-5.
10Businesswire 9/24/92. Also published by Wall Street Journal on
9/24/92.
11USA Today, 'Follow The Money: Understanding NAFTA' by Pat Choate
- 6/01/93. Save Our Country Save Our Jobs by Ross Perot & Pat
Choate pp. 52 - 53.
12NAFTA - Vol. I: Annex 1603 p. 16-8, Appendix 1603.D.4.
13C-SPAN, Congressional Special Orders 7/15/93 - Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur. Save Our Country Save Our Jobs by Ross Perot & Pat Choate
pp. 69 - 71.
14C-SPAN, Congressional Special Orders 7/15/93 - Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur. Save Our Country Save Our Jobs by Ross Perot & Pat Choate
p. 2.
15Save Our Country Save Our Jobs by Ross Perot & Pat Choate pp. 66 -
67. International Trade Commission study pp. G1 - G5.
16C-SPAN, Congressional Special Orders 7/15/93 - Congresswoman
Marcy Kaptur. USA Today, 'Follow The Money: Understanding NAFTA'
by Pat Choate - 6/01/93.
17Trade News Bulletin, Vol. 2 Number 139 8/02/93. Save Our Country
Save Our Jobs by Ross Perot & Pat Choate p. 108. New York Times,
'A Look at North American Pact's Added Costs,' by Ingrid Negrete,
4/14/93.
18Christian Science Monitor, 'NAFTA and Drugs' by John Dillin
6/04/93. Washington Post, 'Will NAFTA Free the Drug Trade' by
William Von Raab & F. Andy Messing 8/15/93.