Headlines: HIGH-TECH JOBS VULNERABLE UNDER NAFTA CHURCHES SAY NAFTA IGNORES SOCIAL/FARM RESPONSIBILITY MEXICAN CULTURE THREATENED BY NAFTA SUTHERLAND REJECTS FRENCH PROPOSAL FOR PARTIAL GATT DEAL ________________________________________________________ TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 181 Tuesday, October 12, 1993 ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ HIGH-TECH JOBS VULNERABLE UNDER NAFTA Many Americans are finding that high-skill and technical jobs are just as vulnerable to competition from Mexico as manufacturing jobs. Some high-technology and federal-contract jobs have already been transferred to the maquiladora region along the U.S.-Mexico border, raising arguments that the North American Free Trade Agreement would not only encourage the transfer of low-skill or manufacturing jobs but would also send high-tech industries south of the border in search of cheap wages. "I had to live the lie," said William Lewis, a manager of Hughes Aircraft Co., who was asked in 1988 to defend the company's decision to transfer high-technology U.S. defense work from Newport Beach, CA to a Hughes plant in Tijuana, Mexico. "I knew that somewhere down the line, people would lose their jobs because of this." Lewis eventually became one of hundreds of Hughes employees laid off as their jobs moved to Mexico. The WASHINGTON POST reports that more companies, like Hughes, are finding that with proper training, Mexican workers are just as efficient as their U.S. counterparts in manufacturing high-tech microchip components of aerospace and defense products. The starting wage in Mexico for chip assembly producers is $6.40 per day, compared to $17 per hour for newly hired technicians in Newport Beach. Source: Tod Robberson, "A High-Tech, Low-Wage Lure: Hughes's Move to Mexico Illustrates a Thorny NAFTA Issue," WASHINGTON POST, October 6, 1993. ________________________________________________________ CHURCHES SAY NAFTA IGNORES SOCIAL/FARM RESPONSIBILITY Members of rural Catholic organizations called for a rejection of NAFTA last month. Joseph K. Fitzgerald, executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC), a 70-year-old coalition of Catholic organizations, said NAFTA should be judged by how it affects people and creation and how those that are affected are able to participate in it. Based on NCRLC answers to these questions, members said they could not accept NAFTA in its current form. In a statement, "Trading for the Common Good," the NCRLC said U.S., Mexican and Canadian negotiators need to: consider the consequences for rural people and communities in an attempt to integrate agricultural economies; change immigration policies to ensure protection of and opportunities for effected communities; phase out U.S. Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) concessional sales of agricultural commodities in Mexico; preserve the autonomy of member nations; and establish a multinational commission to address rural poverty on both sides of the border. Source: "NAFTA As It Stands Should Fall, Says Rural Life Leader," NCRLC PRESS RELEASE, September 17, 1993. ________________________________________________________ MEXICAN CULTURE THREATENED BY NAFTA Many Mexicans worry that NAFTA will accelerate the current shift towards American attitudes and technology. "In the case of two nations so disparate in size, power and wealth as Mexico and the United States, the weight of economic superiority can be crushing and can lead to a permanent loss of significant attributes of sovereignty and cultural identity," wrote Mexican scholar Jorge Castaneda in his book LIMITS TO FRIENDSHIP. "Mexicans would not necessarily become 'more American' as a result of cultural integration, but might well become 'less Mexican.'" If NAFTA is approved, many Mexicans fear that a host of capital investment and technological changes will replace Mexican culture as more "modern" products become available. "Mexican culture is being destroyed and being replaced by North American consumerism," said Herberto Castillo, a political columnist in Mexico. Source: Anita Snow, "Mexico-NAFTA," AP, October 12, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ SUTHERLAND REJECTS FRENCH PROPOSAL FOR PARTIAL GATT DEAL Peter Sutherland, director-general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, rejected a French proposal to exclude agriculture and intellectual property sectors from a global trade accord this year. "As some would see it," Sutherland argued, "a partial agreement of that kind would give a free ride to the developed world in areas of interest to them but fail to demand some reciprocal movement in areas of importance to the developing countries, such as agriculture and textiles." On Monday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Europe Radio 1 that France would be willing to negotiate a farm accord next year so that the long-stalled Uruguay Round of GATT talks could be wrapped up this year. Agriculture remains one of the main stumbling blocks in the current GATT accord because of opposition to the U.S.-EC farm pact negotiated last November. French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur will meet with EC ministers today to discuss other trade sectors on which France could reach a deal quickly with trade partners. "Either we accept a total failure ... or ... make a list of subjects where we can agree right away, conclude an intermediate package and put off the rest till later," Juppe said. Balladur is scheduled Wednesday to present the intermediate package before the National Assembly (Parliament's lower House). Sources: "Sutherland Rejects Idea of Partial GATT Accord," UPI, October 11, 1993; David Buchan, David Dodwell, Nancy Dunne, "France Wants GATT to Leave Farm Issues," FINANCIAL TIMES, October 12, 1993; "France to Draw Up Interim GATT Trade Offer," REUTER, October 11, 1993; "France's Balladur to Propose Interim GATT Pact," REUTER, October 12, 1993. ________________________________________________________ EVENT: "The NAFTA Decision and Beyond," Thursday, October 14, 9:00-3:30, Room H-C5, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. Free. To reserve a space contact: Brian Hardy, Economic Policy Institute. Tel: (202) 755- 8810 Fax: (202) 775-0819. This day-long conference will focus on the consequences of NAFTA ratification or rejection and alternative strategies for continental development. ________________________________________________________ Editor: Gigi DiGiacomo 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 ________________________________________________________