New Bill Finds NAFTA Is Costing U.S. Jobs and Devastating Manufacturers; Calls For U.S. To Renegotiate or Withdraw

While hosting The Jim Cates Show on AM-1440 KMAJ this morning, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) unveiled major new legislation that she has authored and plans to introduce into the U.S. House of Representatives later this week.

Boyda's bill, the NAFTA Accountability Act, requires the United States to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). If the negotiations do not produce specific, concrete improvements, the bill calls for America to withdraw from NAFTA.

Rep. Boyda said, "Practically every politician in Washington has said that NAFTA has its share of problems. Even supporters admit that NAFTA is deeply flawed, but nobody has had the guts to fix the problem."

The bill finds that, since NAFTA was enacted, the American trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has climbed to $919 billion. Outsourcing has devastated the U.S. manufacturing base and cost America over a million living-wage jobs, and poor border security has contributed to the illegal importation of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana from Mexico.

Rep. Boyda's legislation requires the President to renegotiate NAFTA to correct trade deficits, currency distortions, and agricultural provisions. If five specific conditions are not certified by the end of 2008, the bill calls for the United States to withdraw from NAFTA:

(1) gains in U.S. jobs and living standards (by the Secretary of Labor)

(2) increased U.S. domestic manufacturing (by the Secretary of Commerce)

(3) improved health and environmental standards, with respect to food imports and to U.S.-Mexico border areas (by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency)

(4) reduced flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada (by the Attorney General)

(5) Mexican democracy and human freedoms (by the President)

The bill also expresses the sense of the Congress that, until these conditions are met, the president should not engage in negotiations to expand NAFTA to include other countries, and fast-track authority should not be renewed with respect to the approval of any such NAFTA expansion.

Rep. Boyda added, "NAFTA is dragging down our economy, weakening our borders, and devastating our manufacturers. After fourteen years, it's time to either fix NAFTA or get the heck out of it."