CWA: NAFTA Negotiations Must be Transparent and Create Good U.S. Jobs

Following is a statement by CWA President Chris Shelton on today's announcement of the Trump administration’s intent to renegotiate NAFTA:

Washington, D.C. – Millions of working families are watching to see if President Trump keeps his promise and truly fixes the North American Free Trade Agreement, what he called "the worst trade deal in the history of the world."

It's important that this renegotiated trade deal benefits working families and communities and doesn’t become another giveaway to Wall Street and investors. Unfortunately, we're hearing too many Trump officials praise the worst elements of trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would send more jobs overseas and allow multinational corporations to attack U.S. laws and regulations they don't like.

We will not tolerate bad trade deals negotiated in back rooms and behind closed doors by multinational corporations, with no transparency and no public input. That's a big reason why millions of Americans mobilized to defeat the TPP. Workers and communities must have a voice and a seat at the table now, at the start of this process.

To truly fix NAFTA, this deal must create good jobs here in the U.S., strengthen protections for workers and the environment, eliminate incentives that corporations now have to send jobs offshore and end the private justice system set up for multinational corporations and foreign investors, the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process (ISDS).

For U.S. working families, trade deals like NAFTA have been a string of one broken promise after another. We're watching to make sure the Trump administration gets it right.