Thread: Labor boss Trumka says any new NAFTA deal must include Canada

Labor boss Trumka says any new NAFTA deal must include Canada

By Andrew O'Reilly | Fox News
42 mins ago

Following a firm warning by President Trump to the United States’ neighbor to the north, the president of the largest union federation in the country said Sunday that given the integration of the three economies in the agreement, any reworked deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement must include Canada.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that while his federation is anxious to have NAFTA reworked – calling the 1994 agreement “devastating” to American workers – any deal that only includes the U.S. and Mexico is unfeasible.

“Our economies are integrated,” Trumka said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s hard to see how that would work without Canada on the deal.”

Trumka’s comments come after Trump warned Canada on Saturday that it "will be out" of a revised NAFTA deal unless it's "fair" to the U.S., and threatened to scrap the current deal should Congress "interfere" with the negotiations.

"There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal," Trump said in one of a series of tweets as he visited his Virginia golf club over the weekend.

It's not clear, however, whether the Trump administration has the authority to strike a deal with just Mexico, as it announced Monday, and exclude Canada. Also, Congress must approve any rewrite of NAFTA, signed under President Bill Clinton, and might refuse to endorse a deal that leaves longtime ally Canada on the sidelines.

The 24-year-old NAFTA tore down most trade barriers dividing the United States, Mexico and Canada. Trade between the three countries surged. But many manufacturers responded to the agreement by moving factories south of the border to take advantage of low Mexican wages, then shipping goods north to the United States and Canada.

Talks between the U.S. and Canada to resume after Labor Day; Rep. Lee Zeldin weighs in on the possible outcomes.

Trump has charged that the deal wiped out American factory jobs. He has pledged to negotiate a better deal or withdraw from NAFTA altogether. Talks on a new trade deal began a year ago, but got bogged down over U.S. demands, including some meant to return manufacturing to the United States.

A few weeks ago, the United States began negotiating with Mexico, leaving Canada on the sidelines. Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto wanted to sign a deal before he left office Dec. 1. The deal announced Monday would, among many other things, require that 40 percent to 45 percent of a car be made in a North American country where auto workers made at least $16 an hour — that is, not in Mexico — before qualifying for duty-free status.

Talks to keep Canada in the trade bloc are to resume this coming week as Washington and Ottawa try to break a deadlock over issues such as Canada's dairy market and U.S. efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition.

Donald Trump for President advisory board member Dr. Gina Loudon reacts to the president's tweets.

"As we've said all week, we're working toward a modernized NAFTA that is good for the middle-class and people working hard to join it," said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. "With good will and flexibility on all sides, a win-win-win outcome is achievable. Canada, of course, will only sign a deal which is good for Canada."

Echoing Trumka’s words about the need to include Canada in any revised deal, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, said that any new agreement must include all three countries.

“We’re encouraged by the open dialogue between the Trump and (Mexican President Enrique) Peña Nieto administrations, working toward a modernized trade agreement that recognizes the technology sector’s critical role in American economic growth,” Shapiro said in a statement. “At the same time, we are concerned that excluding Canada from a final agreement will limit our export opportunities and hurt the U.S. economy.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...de-canada.html

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that while his federation is anxious to have NAFTA reworked – calling the 1994 agreement “devastating” to American workers – any deal that only includes the U.S. and Mexico is unfeasible.

“Our economies are integrated,” Trumka said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s hard to see how that would work without Canada on the deal.”

LOL!! No they're not. Our economies are NOT "integrated". They're no more "integrated" than our citizenry or our laws or our government.

You want Canada in the deal because your union represents Canadian workers. Canadian workers are not our problem. We do not need Canada in the deal any more than we need Mexico in a deal. We don't need a deal with either country. If they want a deal and the deal is good for the US and American Workers and Businesses, then fine, but if not, screw it and end the whole damn thing. Trump is right and Trumka is wrong.



AMERICA FIRST!!

GO TRUMP GO!!!

Trump Train Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!!!

VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2018!!!

Echoing Trumka’s words about the need to include Canada in any revised deal, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, said that any new agreement must include all three countries.

It does. Canada just didn't want to bargain, so the deal doesn't benefit them!

Originally Posted by Judy

The 24-year-old NAFTA tore down most trade barriers dividing the United States, Mexico and Canada. Trade between the three countries surged. But many manufacturers responded to the agreement by moving factories south of the border to take advantage of low Mexican wages, then shipping goods north to the United States and Canada.

And right there lies the biggest problem with NAFTA, which totally screwed us. Although there are many more problems with that disaster of a trade deal. Bill Clinton screwed the American worker like no other president ever has.

And Bush I who conceived and negotiated the whole thing. Bush I signed the 3 country NAFTA deal which was then made into a Treaty, which was passed by Congress after the election and Clinton signed it. The story is Bush I told Clinton who didn't want to sign it, that he might as well as because Bush I said he'd already lobbied it enough in Congress to have enough votes to over-ride a Clinton veto. So Clinton tweaked it a little bit with some flimsy environmental requirements, got those changes, and NAFTA was a done deal.

Clinton should have vetoed it, but Bush I should have never orchestrated the thing to begin with. BAD BOYS BOTH!!!

GRRRRR!!!!

Originally Posted by Judy

And Bush I who conceived and negotiated the whole thing. Bush I signed the 3 country NAFTA deal which was then made into a Treaty, which was passed by Congress after the election and Clinton signed it. The story is Bush I told Clinton who didn't want to sign it, that he might as well as because Bush I said he'd already lobbied it enough in Congress to have enough votes to over-ride a Clinton veto. So Clinton tweaked it a little bit with some flimsy environmental requirements, got those changes, and NAFTA was a done deal.

Clinton should have vetoed it, but Bush I should have never orchestrated the thing to begin with. BAD BOYS BOTH!!!

GRRRRR!!!!

I didn't know that Judy. I didn't know Bush I was such a snake. But if Clinton was really against it, he could have fought to crush it, but he didn't, so he is just as guilty. And didn't he praise the deal, from what I remember?

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

I didn't know that Judy. I didn't know Bush I was such a snake. But if Clinton was really against it, he could have fought to crush it, but he didn't, so he is just as guilty. And didn't he praise the deal, from what I remember?

Yes, Clinton could have fought it and should have fought it. I also think Bush I was bluffing him on the votes to over-ride a veto. I think we could have defeated it on a second round of votes. Yes, Bush I was a snake, he signed the 3 party agreement with Vincente Fox and the Canadian Prime Minister with no publicity at all in Canada. It was like no coverage, no news about it, it flew through Congress and the first Americans are hearing about it really is when Clinton made the news of possibly vetoing it. I learned about Bush I's role in it years later.

AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka flounders against Trump's stellar record on labor

President Trump has given AFL-CIO union boss Richard Trumka everything he wants, and that presents a problem for him.

September 3, 2018

AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka flounders against Trump's stellar record on labor

By Monica Showalter

President Trump's stellar economy nothing but hell on Democrats, and nowhere is it more hellish than in the offices of AFL-CIO union boss Richard Trumka, who for years has gotten the better of Republicans in claims to stand up for the conditions of the working man. Now Trump has come along, and things aren’t quite so easy.
Trumka was called to speak on Labor Day by Fox News’s Chris Wallace about one of his old bugaboos, NAFTA, and it’s obvious he doesn’t quite know what to say:



Youtube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbRyaLMTZjk

Did we just hear he said he WANTED more NAFTA? That trade pact he’s hated for years and often said he wanted scrapped? Suddenly, he wants NAFTA the way a free marketer does, given that the economies of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are all “integrated?” Talk about singing soprano. Let’s see him try to sell that to the hardhats.
Then he gets even more Clinton-globalista, by saying he wants a deal that “works” for all the workers of the NAFTA area – Canadian workers, Mexican workers and American workers, not just American workers alone. As if what’s good for one in a trade pact scenario doesn’t mean some give-ups from another. Let’s see him try to sell that one to the Caterpillar-boot brigades, too.
It’s also interesting that, he ignores, (and to his credit, doesn’t lie about) President Trump’s stunning record on job creation and wages, talking about other stuff instead. “Those are good, but,” he admits. Then he broadly says that workers aren’t doing well, without bringing up specifics. It was obvious from the interview that he wanted that question to go away. Maybe that’s because he’s hearing from his own union members – who in an unrelated trade pact question in a poll put on by the AFL-CIO – cited jobs and wages as their two biggie issues.
Wallace then brings up local content and wage hikes, and how Trump’s renegotiated NAFTA pact raises those things in Mexico, just as the AFL-CIO wanted. He argues (after a softball save from Wallace about enforcement of the pact) that enforcement was, yeah, the issue. Without a scintilla of evidence, he says the whole local content and wage rise can’t be enforced. What part of ‘yes’ does he not understand?
Trumka let slip a little detail about how he was working with the USTR office for enforcement. When has any president allowed AFL-CIO that much input in the past? Again, he got all he wanted, and that leaves him up a tree, exposed as a Democrat operative in a business suit playing advocate of the working man. Success is a problem for him because it undermines Democrats.
It’s also significant that Trumka emphasized a lot that he was non-partisan, objective, a caller of “balls and strikes,” not a Democratic Party shill. Obviously, he’s a bit scared of his union members and all the good stuff President Trump has brought for them.
Which highlights what is really going on here: With Trump giving workers what they want, Trumka is increasingly irrelevant. That explains his sudden nice-guy persona, and his strangely shifting positions on NAFTA. For him, the game was never about the working man, it was about advancing the aims of the left. Now he’s in the uncomfortable position of being a successful union leader who got his workers the jobs and wage hikes they wanted, yet he can’t capitalize on it. His real game has always been getting votes for Democrats and everyone now knows it.
Trump is hell for this union boss, and Trumka’s floundering shows it.

Image credit: Linh Do, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

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Trumka has cooked his own goose, but don't worry workers, Trump is fighting for you not your union "boss", who ain't much of a "boss" if you ask me. You'd all be better off if Donald Trump represented you. Oh wait, he is!!!

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