While the Trump administration has touted the new trade pact with Mexico and Canada as a historic achievement and a promise kept, critics say that the differences between the NAFTA and the new agreement are so slight as to make the entire effort to renegotiate the trade pact “unnecessarily painful.”
“This is better than anything the United States has ever negotiated before,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said. “It’s going to make a real difference for working men and women in this country. Now, some Wall Street guys are going to have to figure out another way to make a fortune, but in terms of working men and women, and farmers and ranchers it’s going to make a big difference.”
“After spending a year and a half alienating our friends, punishing our farmers and manufacturers with devastating tariffs and counter-tariffs, and fracturing the hard-won alliance we had built to isolate and pressure China, we finally got a new trade deal — and a “new” trade strategy,” Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post opined. “Yet somehow, they look an awful lot like the old ones.”
So who is right?
Let’s start with those who have the most to gain or lose here: American manufacturing workers and farmers. The deal has been hailed by the United Steelworkers as requiring significantly greater protection for workers than Nafta. The United Autoworkers described it as a “step in the right direction” but raised concerns that it might not be enforced rigorously enough.
“This is a big win for Wisconsin’s dairy farmers. This new deal will open up Canadian markets for our dairy farmers, eliminate certain tariffs, and eliminate Canada’s protectionist trade policies related to ultra-filtered milk that targeted Wisconsin dairy producers,” Wisconsin Governor Scott Watson said.
Across the border, Canadian dairy farmers say the deal is a “huge disappointment.” The leader of Canada’s social democrats complained “we have a new name, but a worse deal.”
“The Liberals made concession after concession, until the Trump administration got the deal it wanted,” said United Steel Workers Canadian Director Ken Newman.
So at least judging from the reactions of labor and farm leaders in the U.S. and Canada, the deal is a significant “win” for the Trump administration.
The are several significant changes in the USMCA that are likely responsible for this.
Rules of Origin
In order to qualify for duty-free treatment, so-called “rules of origin” look at what percent of a product is imported from elsewhere and what percent is made in North America. The new pact raises the North American content requirement for auto manufacturing from 62.5 percent to 75 percent. That is a large increase that diminishes the attractiveness of manufacturing outside of North America, in part because it makes it hard to obtain economies of scale with smaller inputs.
Sunset Clause
Nafta was forever. Unfortunately, the world is a dynamic place and over time the agreement became stale. But since it had no mechanism for automatic updates, it continued to fall further and further out of sync with economic realities. First and foremost, it was advertised as likely to shrink the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico but instead it greatly expanded it.
The USMCA will expire in 16 years. Every six years, the countries involved will meet to decide whether or not to extend it for another six years. This was a compromise between the Trump administration’s initial demand for an agreement set to expire after five years and the demands of Canada and Mexico that it last indefinitely.
Workers Rights
The new trade pact also guarantees Mexican workers the right to form and join unions. In the U.S., unions are skeptical that this will be properly enacted in Mexico and enforced going forward. But in theory, it would diminish the benefits to U.S. companies from moving south of border to be able to employ workers denied the right to organize.
Wages
The new deal also requires a minimum input for duty-free manufacturing from workers paid at least $16 an hour. The practical short term effect will be to shift production away from Mexico and towards Canada and the U.S., Over the long term, it could result in higher wages for Mexican workers, shrinking the wage differential that acts like a magnet pulling jobs south of the border. Sunset clause
Milk, Cheese, Ice cream
Oddly enough, this was one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations. Canada has a very complex system of barriers and subsidies that make it very difficult for U.S. dairy farmers to export their products. Canada is keeping this system in place but increasing the market share U.S. dairy products are permitted to compete for,
Intellectual Property
Here are some of the highlights of the new proptections for IP, as provided by the Trump administration.
- Include 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs and a robust scope of products eligible for protection.
- Require full national treatment for copyright and related rights so United States creators are not deprived of the same protections that domestic creators receive in a foreign market.
- Continue to provide strong patent protection for innovators by enshrining patentability standards and patent office best practices to ensure that United States innovators, including small- and medium-sized businesses, are able to protect their inventions with patents.
In short, it’s a much better agreement than NAFTA. Score this one as a win for the Trump administration, American workers, American farmers, and American innovators.
source: breitbart.com
Go Trump! WHen the original Nafta Agreement was made I was in my late 30s and it was not hard to figure out we were being Screwed!
As a retail buyer, I spent my life in Negotians with companies like Estee Lauder/Clinigue/Aramis complex as well as all of the other companies in the industry. The aforementioned company was great at making the following statement anytime things were not going their way “if we have become a burden for you we can always back U-Haul trucks up to the back door of your stores!”
In otherwise very similar to how the Democrats have always functioned. Even back in the days of more rational centerurist democrats they always held that “There will be marches in the streets” idealogy. The differences then were that most of the time the marches were not violent and controlled by a bunch of hysterical lemmings willing to dive over the cliff in response to SOROS! SOROS pays these PROFESSIONAL adjitators via many different companies and supposed political think tanks;
Soros ties to political impact in the USA;
SOROS REPORTED MEDIA TIES;
1. NY Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC. CHRISTINE AMANPOUR sits on boards of operations of organizations funded by SOROS.
2. ProPublica initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure” – “progressive” the code for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. One more thing: a 14-person Journalism Advisory Board, stacked with CNN’s David Gergen and representatives from top newspapers, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster. Several are working journalists, including:
* Jill Abramson, a managing editor of The New York Times;
* Martin D. Baron, the editor of The Boston Globe;
* David Boardman, the executive editor of the Seattle Times;
* Kerry Smith, the senior vice president for editorial quality of ABC News;
* Cynthia A. Tucker, the editor of the editorial page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
* Alberto Ibargüen, the former publisher of The Miami Herald, is on the board of directors. He’s also
president and CEO of journalism’s prestigious John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
ProPublica is new and prominent, but it’s far from the only Soros-funded organization that is stacked with members of the supposedly neutral press.
3. Center for Public Integrity is another great example of Liberal left wing control on media, its board of directors is filled with;
* Christiane Amanpour – Anchor of ABC’s Sunday morning political affairs program, ‘This Week with Christiane Amanpour.’ A reliable lefty, she has called tax cuts ‘giveaways,’ the Tea Party ‘extreme,’ and Obama ‘very Reaganesque.’
* Arianna Huffington – Co-founder of the popular left-wing website named after her, The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and thanks to a recent $315 million sale, the person in charge of AOL’s news divisions.
* Paula Madison – Executive vice president and chief diversity officer for NBC Universal, who leads NBC Universal’s corporate diversity initiatives, spanning all broadcast television, cable, digital, and film properties.
* Matt Thompson – Editorial product manager at National Public Radio.
It specically makes attacks on the coal industry, payday loans and conservatives like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The Center for Public Integrity is also more open about its politics, including a detailed investigation into conservative funders David and Charles KOCH and their “web of influence.” According to the center’s own 990 tax forms, the Open Society Institute gave it $651,650 in 2009 alone.
4. Center for Investigative Reporting follows the same template – important journalists on the board and a liberal editorial agenda. Both the board of directors and the advisory board contain journalists from major news outlets. The board features:
* Phil Bronstein (President), San Francisco Chronicle;
* David Boardman, The Seattle Times;
* Len Downie, former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, now VP;
* George Osterkamp, CBS News producer.
The Advisory Board features prominent liberal journalists like Bill Moyers, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker, former ’60 Minutes’ host Mike Wallace, and representatives of both PBS and NPR.
Readers of the site are greeted with numerous stories on climate change, illegal immigration and the evils of big companies. It counts among its media partners The Washington Post, Salon, CNN and ABC News. CIR received close to $1 million from Open Society from 2003 to 2008.
Summary; Why does this matter…because the mainstream media is CONTROLLED by George Soros and the LEFT WING LIBERALS. If journalists were more up front, they would have to admit numerous uncomfortable connections with groups that push a liberal agenda, many of them funded by the stridently liberal GEORGE SOROS
SOROS TIES TO FOUNDATIONS:
1. Sandler Foundation, founded by Herb and Marion Sandler from the billions made in the Junk-mortage housing collapse utilizing the support of the kind of Saul Alinsky-type community organizers who were so helpful when the Sandlers wanted pressure put on business rivals. The Sandlers also helped underwrite the creation of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank “on steroids,” according to its founder, John Podesta. Podesta was Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, a leader in President Obama’s transition team, and a senior advisor in the Obama White House until leaving last month to lead Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
2. John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and the head of Obama’s first transition team, founded the “Center for American Progress” in 2003. CAP has emerged as perhaps the most influential of all think tanks during the Obama era, and there’s been a rapidly revolving door between it and the administration. CAP is also among the most secretive of all think tanks concerning its donors. Most major think tanks prepare an annual report containing at least some financial and donor information and make it available on their websites. According to CAP spokeswoman Andrea Purse, the center doesn’t even publish one. In 2007 when CAP founded the Business Alliance, a membership rewards program for corporate contributors, and then exploded when Obama was elected in 2008. PAY for PLAY!
3. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is a wealthy and radical anti-development activist and litigation organization that specializes in manipulating the Endangered Species Act to prevent resource production and human activity. Its activities have involved breaking the law and framing innocent people to ruin their lives and livelihoods. Endangered species penalties are often draconian. In the extreme, if you dig a flower bed in your own backyard and harm the habitat of an endangered spider or daisy, under ESA’s Section 11(b), you could get a year in federal prison and a $50,000 fine for each violation. Many such absurd cases are on record.
4 Open Society Foundation, Built on Soros’ anti-capitalist redistributionist political philosophies, the organization gives away nearly a billion dollars per year to left-wing organizations around the world. George Soros launched his philanthropic work in South Africa in 1979. Since then he has given over $32 BILLION to fund the Open Society Foundations, which work in over 100 countries around the world. The Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs agenda prioritizes a number of liberal issue prerogatives and funds left-wing organizations to carry out these policies.[3] Some of these prerogatives include creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, cutting the number of prison inmates by 50%, enacting comprehensive immigration reform, increasing welfare handouts, and raising taxes to redistribute wealth.
OKAY, I have posted just a few of the MANY, MANY George Soros funded organizations to undermine democracies around the world with the USA as the main target. Now it is time for ALL rational persons of all political persuasions to put a STOP to this tyranical takeover attempt of the USA, BEFORE he does to us what he did to Venuzula and many countries in Africa and in Europe. Remember this is the man who is so proud of the fact he Broke the Bank of England and now WE, the United States of America are his intended VICTIM.
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE REPUBLICAN, All Liberals and rational Democrats invited to Join to save The United States of America….Time is running out!