TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 87 Tuesday, May 18, 1993 ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ MINNESOTA HOUSE PASSES ANTI-NAFTA RESOLUTION The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a resolution yesterday in opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The resolution, which was approved by an 83 to 47 majority, urges the Minnesota Congressional Delegation to oppose NAFTA if problems in the text are not corrected by the time it is presented to Congress. Representative Pat Beard, who carried the resolution in the House, said NAFTA could preempt many of Minnesota's existing health and safety, labor, environmental, agricultural, job creation and development laws. The bill passed the Minnesota Senate 41 to 18. Source: "Minnesota Legislature Passes Resolution Opposing NAFTA," MINNESOTA FAIR TRADE COALITION, May 18, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ NWF LISTS REQUIREMENTS FOR FAST-TRACK SUPPORT The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) says it will support an extension of U.S. fast-track negotiating authority to complete the Uruguay Round of GATT if the Clinton Administration backs the Federation's three point plan to integrate trade with environmental protection. The plan urges the Administration to "reform U.S. trade law, including the establishment of environmental objectives for U.S. trade negotiators; integrate the North American Free Trade Agreement's environmental safeguards into the Uruguay Round and produce a guaranteed timetable and agenda for GATT environmental reform; and support international environmental accords, including an agreement promoting the sound management of all forests -- temperate, boreal, and tropical." In this month's ENVIRO ACTION, NWF contends GATT is in urgent need of environmental reform and poses a far greater threat to the environment than NAFTA. As evidence, they cite last year's GATT ruling that the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act is inconsistent with world trade rules. NWF urged environmentalists to take immediate action by pressing for environmental provisions in the Uruguay Round before fast-track forces Congress to vote quickly on the global trade pact. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) said he hoped NAFTA side accords would set precedents for a merging of trade and environmental rules under GATT. The Clinton Administration announced late last week that trinational labor and environment commissions would have some enforcement powers. Opponents of strong environmental commissions say that granting them enforcement powers will turn GATT and NAFTA into worldwide environmental bureaucracies that impose protectionism in the name of environmentalism. Meanwhile, Norway's decision to allow the killing of 296 minke whales this year, in violation of an eight-year ban, is expected to spur international criticism. Norway's Foreign Minister Johan Joergen Holst said he is concerned that other nations and consumers will boycott its exports and warned that any trade sanctions against Norway would violate GATT rules. The IWC renewed the eight year ban last Friday, despite fierce opposition from Japan and Norway. The ban allows exemptions for research, under which Norway killed 95 minkes last year and plans to kill another 136 of the 296 announced this year. Environmentalists describe the research kills as "pirate catches." Source: Stella Bugge, "Norway Plans to Kill 296 Minke Whales This Year," REUTER, May 18, 1993; John Maggs, "White House to Unveil Proposals For North American Commissions," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, May 17, 1993; "Greening World Trade: The Fast-Track Agenda," ENVIRO ACTION, May, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GERMANY SAYS EC BANANA RULING VIOLATES GATT RULES On behalf of six fruit importers, the German government filed a complaint to the European Court of Justice against the EC's decision to limit imports of Latin American bananas. Importers say the banana restrictions would cause them "irreparable economic damage" and threaten several hundred jobs in the transportation sector and at ports and warehouses. The EC Council of Ministers decided last February to promote banana imports from the former colonies of Britain, France, Portugal and Spain. The decision would result in a 50 percent reduction in "dollar banana" imports from Latin America. Germans, who are the EC's largest consumers of banana, favor the larger, cheaper dollar bananas. "The new EC import regulations confirm fears of a 'fortress Europe' which is cutting itself off from third-country imports with the completion of the single market," said the German Economics Ministry. Under the 1957 Treaty of Rome, Germany is exempt from any import restrictions on bananas. Other EC members are concerned that Germany could import bananas under the exemption and re- export them throughout the rest of the European Community. Germany is expected to ask for an "interim order" next week, which would allow the country to continue importing until a ruling is made. Source: "Euro Court May Hear German Banana Case Next Week," REUTER, May 18, 1993; "Germany Challenges New EC Banana Regulations," REUTER, May 17, 1993; Miriam Widman, "German Importers File Banana Trade Complaint," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, May 17, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Resources: "Action Dossier" from ACTION CANADA NETWORK, Number 38, December 1992, includes a number of excellent articles on NAFTA including, "NAFTA Threatens Loss of More Family Farms," "NAFTA Will Remove Our Right to Control Foreign Investment," "NAFTA Threatens Working Women" and "Free Trade at What Price." For more information contact: Action Canada Network, 804-251 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J6. Tel: (613) 233-1764. Fax: (613) 233-1458. ________________________________________________________ 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 ________________________________________________________