TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume II Number 57 Wednesday, March 31, 1993 ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ ANTI-NAFTA GROUPS PLAN WEEK OF ACTION Labor, environmental and consumer groups are planning a "week of action" in early May to voice their opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Members of the Citizens Trade Campaign are organizing a series of rallies in major cities and other events to encourage members of Congress to reject NAFTA. Jim Jontz, a former congressman from Indiana who is national coordinator of the coalition said NAFTA must "either be fixed or defeated." Some members however are skeptical that side agreements can improve NAFTA and want the trade pact eliminated altogether. "Our position is, you can't fix NAFTA with side-bar deals or parallel accords," said Action Canada Network's Tony Clarke. Meanwhile, a group of corporate executives, trade union leaders and academics will release results of their study on NAFTA's impact on wages, worker rights and immigration. The economic policy panel, which has been meeting for over a year, is expected to recommend that President Clinton negotiate a side agreement that protects internationally recognized labor rights. The group, co-chaired by Xerox chief Paul Allaire and Jack Sheinkman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, will likely find that NAFTA, as negotiated, fails to address critical social issues and should include a timetable for harmonizing labor standards on both sides of the border. Last week, Representative George Brown (D-California) initiated the first congressional action this year to secure standards linking labor and environmental standards to NAFTA or any current or future free trade agreement. The bill proposes punitive action against any systematic denial or violation of fundamental labor rights and environmental abuse. It calls for a trinational dispute panel to hear petitions on labor and the environment filed by non-governmental groups. Source: Tim Shorrock, "U.S., Canada Groups Plan Anti-NAFTA Week of Action," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, March 29, 1993. ________________________________________________________ U.S./CANADIAN TRADE MINISTERS MEET TO IRON-OUT DISPUTES Top U.S. and Canadian trade officials will meet this week to discuss a wide range of unresolved trade issues. As part of the commission established under the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officials are expected to attend ministerial meetings at least once a year. U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and Michael Wilson, Canada's trade minister, will begin negotiations in Ottawa on Friday. "We will probably take the opportunity to talk about the current state of play with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round (of the GATT)." Agenda issues include beer, softwood lumber and durum wheat. Canada is also likely to push for the establishment of a binational accord to halt duties on steel exports. "We would like to have a U.S.-Canada steel agreement but this has proven not to be acceptable to the U.S. industry," said Wilson. During his recent two-day meeting with EC Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan in Brussels, Kantor reaffirmed strong U.S. commitment to NAFTA. "President Clinton has said that the success of the NAFTA could pave the way for trade expanding arrangements with other market-oriented countries in the Western hemisphere," Kantor said. He explained that establishing "higher-wage jobs and greater well- being for our workers, firms and communities," would encourage South American countries to continue opening up their economies to global competition. "As we go forward together we need to be both tough minded and optimistic," Kantor argued. Source: "U.S./Canada Ministers to Discuss Trade Issues," REUTER, March 30, 1993; Mickey Kantor, "Kantor Speech on Trade and Challenge of Change," REUTER, March 31, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ JAPAN REACTS STRONGLY TO KANTOR CRITICISM REGARDING GATT Japanese officials broke their silence yesterday after USTR Mickey Kantor's criticized Japan for playing too weak a role in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks. Kantor said the three year stalemate between the U.S. and EC over farm policy has dominated world trade talks, "giving other nations, most notably Japan, the ability to avoid contributing meaningfully to the successful completion of the talks." Japan's ambassador to the EC, Tomohiko Kobayashi, accused Kantor of misperceiving the situation. "He is very new to international trade so he may not grasp realities yet," Kobayashi said. He argued Japan has made a strong contribution to the Uruguay Round by proposing cuts in tariff rates "long before" the U.S. or EC did the same. Sources: Bill Lamp. "U.S. Says Japan Unhelpful in Uruguay Round," UPI, March 30, 1993; Stephen Nisbet, "Clinton's Trade Crusade Enters Critical Phase," REUTER, March 30, 1993. ________________________________________________________ FRENCH FARM MINISTER NAMED, SYMPATHETIC TO RURAL AREAS French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur named new cabinet appointments this week following the conservatives' victory on Sunday. Jean Puech, 51, a senator from the center-right Republican party who represented Aveyron, one of France's poorest rural areas, was named the new agriculture minister. Confederation Paysanne, a French farmers' union, said it hoped Puech would defend agriculture as economically and environmentally sound. "His task will be assuring a decent income for all farmers," the union said. Conservatives strongly oppose last November's U.S.-EC farm deal. Their threats to veto the farm-deal have raised concern that GATT could remain stalled over agriculture issues. Farmers from rural areas like Aveyron, have staged massive protests against the farm deal. Sources: "New French Farm Minister Has Rural Base," REUTER, March 31, 1993; "Profiles of Main Ministers in New French Cabinet," REUTER, March 30, 1993. _______________________________________________________ Events: April 6-7: "U.S.-Mexico Transportation Policy: A Trade Perspective," San Antonio, Texas. A conference for organizations that use, study, run, regulate or connect with U.S. -Mexico international transportation facilities. Officials from both governments will be represented. For details, contact: Roxanne Allen, Center for the New West, Albuquerque, NM. Tel: 505-242-9042. Fax: 505-242-4213. _______________________________________________________ Produced by: Kai Mander and Gigi Boivin The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) 1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite #303 Minneapolis, MN 55414 USA Telephone:(612)379-5980 Fax:(612)379-5982 E-Mail:kmander@igc.apc.org ________________________________________________________