Thread: US, Canadian and International Groups Call for NAFTA Suspens

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 12, 2007
1:20 PM

CONTACT: Institute for Agricultre and Trade Policy (IATP)
Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy,
612-870-3416,
ben@iatp.org


US, Canadian and International Groups Call for NAFTA Suspension

Over 70 Groups Support Effort by Mexican Farmers to Renegotiate NAFTA

MINNEAPOLIS - December 12 - The final implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should be suspended and the controversial treaty should be renegotiated, over 70 U.S., Canadian and international groups wrote in a letter sent today to government leaders in the three NAFTA countries. The letter supports Mexican farm organizations challenging the implementation of the final agricultural provisions of NAFTA, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2008.

The final provisions of NAFTA include the removal of tariffs on white corn, beans, powdered milk and other staple foods. The groups called for the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments to “halt the agricultural trade liberalization that is destroying the Mexican countryside, rural communities, indigenous peoples and farmers, driving them into economic exile.â€

1 December 7, 2007 To: The Honorable Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of the United States of Mexico The Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States of America The Honorable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada The Honorable Lic. Beatriz Leycegui Gardoqui, Subsecretaria de Negociaciones Comerciales The Honorable Ambassador Susan Schwab, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative The Honorable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade of Canada The Honorable Lic. Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez, Secretario de Agricultura, GanaderÃ*a, Pesca y Alimentación The Honorable Charles Conner, Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture The Honorable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada The Honorable Senadora Rosario Green MacÃ*as, Presidenta, Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores The Honorable Senador Guillermo Padres ElÃ*as, Presidente, Comisión de Agricultura The Honorable Dip. Héctor Padilla Gutiérrez, Presidente, Comisión de Agricultura The Honorable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, House of Commons of Canada The Honorable Helena Guergis, Secretary of State (Foreign Affairs and International Trade), House of Commons The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate The Honorable Tom Harkin, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry The Honorable Collin Peterson, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture


From: The undersigned Canadian, Mexican and U.S. civil society organizations We write to support the aims of all Mexican farmers’ and indigenous organizations to halt the agricultural trade liberalization that is destroying the Mexican countryside, rural communities, indigenous peoples and farmers, driving them into economic exile. We support their proposals to rebuild Mexican agriculture, food sovereignty and rural development. 2
It is not too late for the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States to halt the removal of tariffs on white corn, beans, powdered milk, and other foods of the “basic basketâ€