TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 149 Wednesday, August 18, 1993 Headlines: GOVERNORS CALL ON CLINTON TO PROMOTE NAFTA EXHIBIT WILL SHOW GOVERNMENT FRAUD IN MEXICO MEXICO WANTS FREE TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA CARGILL TARGET OF PROTESTS IN INDIA ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ GOVERNORS CALL ON CLINTON TO PROMOTE NAFTA A bipartisan group of governors resolved Monday to support the North American Free Trade Agreement and urged President Clinton to begin a more aggressive lobbying campaign to promote the pact. Governor Tommy G. Thompson (R-Wisconsin), a strong NAFTA advocate who had previously called Clinton "tepid" and "timid" for his weak efforts to sell NAFTA, said he was reassured after meeting with Clinton Monday. Clinton promised to launch a "much more aggressive" campaign to win support for the trade pact. Clinton asked the governors to lobby congressional representatives for NAFTA in upcoming months. A recent survey by the conservative Heritage Foundation found that 40 of 50 governors support NAFTA. Congressional support is split. Former U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills also encouraged Clinton to work harder for NAFTA. In a NEW YORK TIMES op-ed last week, Hills urged Clinton to "come out fighting for congressional approval." Hills argued the American public and Congress have been fed "misinformation" by NAFTA's opponents. "Critics assert that NAFTA throws our door open to a flood of Mexican goods. Nonsense. Our door is open now," Hills wrote. Hills denied NAFTA would lure U.S. companies south of the border in search of cheap labor and weak environmental regulations. "If anything, the accord will help American companies stay home," Hills wrote. She said U.S. companies would not relocate to Mexico because NAFTA, which aims to eliminate tariffs over the next 15 years, would allow U.S. companies to ship products to Mexico as easily as they ship goods from one state to another. NAFTA opposition groups argue that Mexicans would not be able to afford U.S. products. Sources: Richard L. Berke, "Group of Governors Supports Trade Accord," NEW YORK TIMES, August 17, 1993; Dan Balz, "Governor Blames Clinton for Troubles on NAFTA; Thompson Calls President Weak, Tepid, Timid," WASHINGTON POST, August 17, 1993; Carla A. Hills, "The Trade Pact Is Our Best Deal," NEW YORK TIMES, August 17, 1993; John King, "Governors-NAFTA," AP, August 16, 1993; "NAFTA Needs More Clinton Effort -- Carla Hills," REUTER, August 13, 1993; David Dodwell, "Muddle Around the Melting Pot," FINANCIAL TIMES, August 12, 1993. ________________________________________________________ EXHIBIT WILL SHOW GOVERNMENT FRAUD IN MEXICO An exhibit called "Expo-Fraud," which displays hundreds of ballots, photographs and documents purporting election fraud in Mexico, opens this week in Mexico City. Opposition parties, including the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the liberal Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) organized the exhibit and plan to move it to Washington as Congress prepares to debate NAFTA. "We're interested in combating the image abroad that there is democracy in Mexico," said Javier Livas, a leader of the National Action Party in Monterrey. "It's not an attack on NAFTA, but democracy is more important than a treaty." Mexican voters and officials have complained for years that elections have been rigged in favor of ruling parties. Livas said the exhibit demonstrates how the nature of fraud has evolved with the use of computers, which are reportedly used to alter registration lists during elections. "What Expo-Fraud is about is showing that these races are clearly unfair," said Christopher Whalen, publisher of the Mexico Report, organizer of the U.S. leg of the exhibit. Source: Susana Hayward, "Mexico-Fraud Show," AP, August 13, 1993. ________________________________________________________ MEXICO WANTS FREE TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA Mexico is now ready to negotiate free trade agreements with Bolivia and the rest of Latin America, said Mexican Foreign Minister Fernando Solana. "Mexico could negotiate free trade areas and when Bolivia and other countries are ready, we will do it," Solana told reporters Monday after meeting with Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Mexico would follow guidelines agreed to under NAFTA to negotiate free trade agreements with Latin American countries. Source: "Mexico Interested in Free Trade Areas With Latam," REUTER, August 16, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ CARGILL TARGET OF PROTESTS IN INDIA Indian farmers continue to protest Cargill offices and seed processing plants in India. Last month, members of the Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRRS) ransacked Cargill offices in protest of GATT proposals to tighten intellectual property rights laws. The farmers say GATT's Uruguay Round would allow Cargill to patent biologically produced seeds. Although Cargill says it will not patent seeds, protesters marched today in opposition to Cargill's plans to build a $25 million salt works project. The farmers say the salt project would put nearly 3,000 peasants in Gujarat out of work. "Go now when we are telling you to do so politely," they warned Cargill representatives. India produces 12 million tons of salt each year and exports approximately 500,000 tons to Bangladesh and Nepal. The Cargill salt plant is expected to produce one million tons of salt for export. Sources: "Salt Protesters Warn Cargill to Quit or Perish," REUTER, August 18, 1993; "'Seed Satyagraha' Launched by Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha at Cargill Office," THIRD WORLD NETWORK, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Event: "Should the North American Free Trade Agreement be OK'd?" USA TODAY wants readers to tell them why they think NAFTA should or should not be approved. Write: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, 1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22229. Tel: 1-800-828-0909. Fax: 1- 703-276-5513. Hearing Impaired: 1-800-331-1706. ________________________________________________________ Editors: Gigi Boivin and Kai Mander 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 ________________________________________________________