TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 151 Monday, August 23, 1993 Headlines: APPEALS COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN NAFTA CASE THIS WEEK FOLEY: MOST DEMOCRATS AGAINST NAFTA IN OP-ED, FORD PUSHES FOR NAFTA U.S. FARM GROUPS SAY BLAIR HOUSE "NOT NEGOTIABLE" ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ APPEALS COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN NAFTA CASE THIS WEEK The Clinton administration is preparing oral arguments for Tuesday's hearing in federal appeals court on the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Justice Department wants to overturn a lower court decision requiring the government to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for NAFTA. The department contends the decision infringes on the president's powers to negotiate international agreements. The Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen will testify in favor of the lower court ruling. A decision is not expected for weeks, but most legal and economic experts expect the White House to prevail. Meanwhile in a new survey, 98 percent of corporate lawyers did not think the North American Free Trade Agreement would have any effect on their companies' environmental programs. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents said their companies have not fully complied with federal and state environmental laws over the past year and 86 percent denied that U.S. environmental laws are driving U.S. firms abroad. The poll by the National Law Journal and Arthur Andersen Environmental Services was based on questionnaires sent in June to U.S. companies with revenues ranging from $50 million to more than $10 billion. Sources: Rita Beamish, "Companies-Environment," AP, August 22, 1993; Lyndsay Griffiths, "Clinton Tackles Next NAFTA Hurdle," REUTER, August 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ FOLEY: MOST DEMOCRATS AGAINST NAFTA House Speaker Thomas Foley (D-Washington) said a majority of House Democrats oppose NAFTA despite President Clinton's strong support of it. "There's no question that the Democratic Party is divided on the North American Free Trade Agreement with, I would say, a significant majority of House Democrats probably against it or at least tending against it," Foley said Sunday. Foley, who personally expects to vote for it, said Democratic leaders would note endorse a particular position on the trade pact. "Individual members are going to make up their mind on NAFTA because it is clear that although the President is going to be strongly supporting NAFTA that the Democratic leadership is going to be divided," Foley said. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri has already announced his opposition to the current draft of NAFTA. The Clinton administration expects strong support from Republicans. In weekend appearances in New York state, Ross Perot continued to speak out against NAFTA. "If the NAFTA goes through, we'll be able to fill two sports stadiums here in New York with all the newly unemployed people," Perot said. NAFTA is the subject of Perot's latest book, SAVE YOUR JOB, SAVE YOUR COUNTRY, due this fall. Sources: "House Speaker Says Most Democrats Oppose NAFTA," REUTER, August 22, 1993; Todd Wasserman, "US-Perot," UPI, August 22, 1993; Keith Bradsher, "Last Call to Arms on the Trade Pact," NEW YORK TIMES, August 23, 1993. ________________________________________________________ IN OP-ED, FORD PUSHES FOR NAFTA In an op-ed in Sunday's WASHINGTON POST, former U.S. President Gerald Ford argues that NAFTA's biggest foe is ignorance and urges President Clinton to lead an "educational effort" to promote the trade pact. Ford writes that without a strong effort from Clinton, NAFTA will fail, but "If he gives it his all, the vision of the accord, which is central to his vow to create a high-wage, high-growth economy -- will become reality." Ford also states that NAFTA would nurture Mexican economic policies "that will help create jobs and increase wages for Mexicans in Mexico." Ford contends the trade pact would also "encourage the reform process underway worldwide in dozens of countries making the transition from state-controlled to market-driven economies." Source: Gerald R. Ford, "'Full-Court Press'; The Administration Must Go All-Out for NAFTA," WASHINGTON POST, August 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ U.S. FARM GROUPS SAY BLAIR HOUSE "NOT NEGOTIABLE" Nine U.S. farm groups warmed the Clinton administration not to weaken last year's agriculture agreement with the European Community, known as the Blair House accord. "We respectfully urge the administration make clear to the European Community that the commitments made by both parties at Blair House are not negotiable," said a letter signed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers and others. The groups expressed concern the EC would seek chances in the pact and argued the farm agreement provides the basis for a successful conclusion of GATT talks. French farmers strongly oppose the terms of the farm accord, which they say goes beyond reforms outlined in Europe's Common Agricultural Policy. French and German officials will meet this week in Germany to discuss a range of differences, including GATT. Germany wants France to withdraw its opposition to agriculture provisions in GATT. "On the GATT agreement, we have to tell our French friends that solidarity is a two-way street," German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said last week. GATT Director-General Peter Sutherland has made a point in recent weeks to emphasize that France is not the only reason the Uruguay Round of talks is not complete, as some imply. Sutherland says the United States, which is trying to protect textiles and other commodities, and other countries are also to blame. Sources: "US Farm Groups Warn Against Backsliding at GATT," REUTER, August 20, 1993; Tom Heneghan, "Franco-German Meetings to Put Tandem Back on Track," REUTER, August 22, 1993; Hobart Rowan, "Exposing Trade Curbs' Real Costs," WASHINGTON POST, August 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Editor: 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 ________________________________________________________