TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 77 Monday, May 3, 1993 ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ CANADIAN PARLIAMENT MAY PASS NAFTA THIS MONTH Canada's House of Commons is expected to vote on NAFTA implementing legislation this month. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who vowed in February to pass the trade accord before leaving office in June, has continued to push for approval of the pact. The ratification process is proceeding without major protest even though over half the Canadian population opposes NAFTA. The vote will likely occur sometime in May because Parliament will recess in mid- June and will not reconvene until after elections this fall. NAFTA supporters worry that if the trade pact is not passed now, it will fail to meet the January 1 implementation date. Source: Clyde H. Farnsworth, "Canada Races to Ratify Trade Pact," NEW YORK TIMES, May 3, 1993. ________________________________________________________ CONGRESSWOMEN SAY NAFTA IGNORES NEEDS OF FEMALE WORKERS A group of female U.S. lawmakers criticized NAFTA for failing to address the needs of women workers and their families. "One of the most neglected aspects of the proposed treaty is the impact it will have on women," said Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who will lead a group of nine congresswomen on a six-day trip to Mexico. Kaptur argues that because Mexican workers lack the labor and environmental protection and benefits that U.S. and Canadian employees enjoy, women, who comprise two-thirds of the labor force, will be hurt the most by the trade pact. "If American firms move to Mexico, they ought to respect the worker on both sides of the border," Kaptur said. The group met last Friday with Mexican Trade Minister Jaime Serra Puche. Kaptur said the discussions focused on improved living standards for Mexican workers. "I'm not sure they (the Mexican side) agreed with everything we said. I heard a lot of economic statistics," Kaptur said. "But no one really talked about the people." Some have blamed environmental pollution along the U.S.-Mexican border for the high incidence of anencephaly--babies born without brains. This fatal birth defect is occurring at four times the national average in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. Experts suspect the numbers are high due to unregulated pollution and because the mothers, mostly poor Hispanic women, suffer from inadequate diets and lack of prenatal care. Families of 18 children born either anencephalic or who had related neural tube birth defects have filed suit charging 88 maquiladoras and businesses with causing their babies' birth defects. Source: Carol Byrne, "What is Killing These Babies?" STAR TRIBUNE (Minneapolis), May 2, 1993; "Female U.S. Lawmakers Criticize NAFTA as Unresponsive to Women," UPI, April 30, 1993. ________________________________________________________ MEXICO PUSHES AHEAD ON TRADE PACT WITH LATIN AMERICA Mexican officials announced Sunday that, regardless of what happens with NAFTA, they will continue discussions with several Latin American countries in hopes of completing a free trade pact by January 1994. Mexico expects to clinch a trade deal with Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica this year. Rogelio Granguillhome, Mexico's director-general of economic relations, said Mexico would also hold talks with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as a single bloc. The U.S. has ambitious plans for a free trade area including Chile, Venezuela and Argentina. U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said he will ask Congress for fast-track negotiating authority this year to begin expanding the North American trade pact. "We will seek bilateral authority later in the year in order to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement to become a free trade agreement for the Americas," Kantor said. He did not offer a specific timetable. Meanwhile, Japan said it intends to increase investments in Mexican companies if NAFTA is ratified. "I think Japanese investments in Mexico are going to increase a lot if the treaty comes into force," said Japanese Foreign Minister Kabun Muto speaking through an interpreter. Muto hoped that NAFTA would remain "open to the world" and allow for more foreign investment from Japan. He said most Japanese investors are interested in Mexican fuel companies rather than petrochemical plants which are expected to be sold off to private and foreign investors. Sources: "Mexico Sees Brace of Free-Trade Pacts by Year-End," REUTER, May 2, 1993; "Japan to Invest More in Mexico Under NAFTA," REUTER, May 2, 1993; "U.S. Hopes to Start Extending NAFTA This Year," REUTER, April 30, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ SUTHERLAND MAY BECOME NEW GATT DIRECTOR-GENERAL Peter Sutherland, former EC competition commissioner and current chairman of the Allied Irish Banks, is expected to become the next director-general of GATT. Arthur Dunkel, who presently holds the post, will retire on June 30, after presiding over global trade negotiations for the past 13 years. Dunkel is rumored to have pressured an originally reluctant Sutherland to consider the post. "He is the formal candidate of the Irish government, who has the backing of the EC," said a community spokesman. The U.S. also supports the nomination. Other potential candidates for the top GATT post include Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and Julio Lacarte Muro, Uruguay's ambassador to GATT. Balkrishan Zutshi, India's ambassador who has been holding multilateral discussions to find a new GATT director said, "This is an on-going process of consultations to find a successor to the present director-general. I have several names." Sources: "Sutherland Likely to Head GATT," FINANCIAL TIMES, April 30, 1993; Stephanie Nebehay, "Ireland's Sutherland Tipped to Succeed Dunkel at GATT," REUTER, April 30, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Produced by: Kai Mander and Gigi Boivin The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) 1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite #303, Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546 USA Telephone:(612)379-5980 Fax:(612)379-5982 E-Mail:kmander@igc.apc.org ________________________________________________________