NAFTA negotiations and Trade Justice is at a critical juncture now, notably considering two striking Mexican workers were recently murdered while protesting fake unions that side with employers to keep wages low and  without worker protections.  Unfortunately, this scenario is all too familiar in Mexico, and, ironically, these murders occurred in the state of Guerrero, just a few hundred miles away from where the 4th round of NAFTA renegotiation was taking place in Mexico City.   Workers of all 3 NAFTA countries suffer when Mexico’s wages are some of the lowest in the hemisphere.  

The fevered pace of negotiators, trying to force a new “modernized” NAFTA in the image of the TPP,  has seen significant resistance and solidarity among numerous groups of all signing nations, ultimately leading to the fourth round falling apart, and forcing the negotiations into 2018 when both Mexico and the U.S. will be facing elections. One thing is certain: although the monopoly neoliberals have kept the text secret, the people’s demands are making a difference.  

Public pressure to remove the undemocratic Investor State Dispute Settlement from NAFTA has gotten traction, and the US Trade Rep has proposed an ISDS that is greatly altered. None of this would be on the table were it not for our activism.

Meanwhile, the USTR, negotiators and lobbyists seem secure in their mutual agreement that the new NAFTA will include privatization of services, in addition to further destruction of workers’ and farmers’ rights, and the people's collective ability to protect the environment.  

Additionally, our digital rights (freedom of speech) will be grossly undermined by negotiators who are now paying lip-service to internet freedom while covertly working to privatize our digital commons.  

Join Trade Justice Alliance as NAFTA stakeholders, civil society and activists discuss ways to ensure that trade policy is guided by environmental preservation and human rights.

Trade Justice Alliance Sunday Webinar / December 10 / 4:30 Pacific / 7:30 Eastern Time

The Way Forward: Global Solidarity and the People’s Trade Agenda

With Sharon Anglin Treat, Senior Trade Attorney for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy;

Cristina Garcia, Member Mobilization Manager with Alianza Americas, working to secure justice for the victims of forced migrations, TPS, and to connect the dots between free trade and immigration;

Eleanor Goldfield, founder and host of the creative and grassroots activism show, Act Out! which airs on Free Speech TV; and...

Anthony Vidal Torres, Assistant Campaign Director with Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade program

As Sharon Treat says, "We will discuss how the current corporate-driven agenda to limit food safety checks, speed up GMO and pesticide approvals, promote factory farms and increase medicine costs is being negotiated behind closed doors on a stepped-up schedule."

"And how are we the people of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. joining together to push for strong labor, environmental and human rights protections instead of this TPP-plus agenda?"

Join us as we work out the details.