Government Intervention
Since NAFTA was implemented 23 years ago, there has been a massive increase in profits and rights of multinational corporations which in turn led to a widening in economic equality in North America. Increased poverty, weakened labour rights and environmental protection have been social and economic consequences within the working class in all three member countries. From 2004 until now, 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. Most of these jobs lost were permanent, well-paid and unionized. ("The Canadian government should replace NAFTA, or scrap it." The Canadian government should replace NAFTA, or scrap it. January 17, 2017. Accessed April 02, 2017. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/comfront/2017/01/canadian-government-should-replace-nafta-or-scrap-it.) …show more content…
People are angered by this because NAFTA has invested in multinational corporations and pushed policies of deregulation and privatization. They are also worried about Donald Trump and his mission to renegotiate the NAFTA agreement which seeks to have workers turn on each other while the big businesses are charged more tax, which in turn benefits the elite corporate in the U.S and creates an imbalance in economic equality. (IBID). Donald Trump is specifically targeting Canada’s softwood lumber by looking to extract more favourable terms for the U.S. by placing quotas and/or limits on Canadian exports to the U.S. Trump’s vision of trade is puts Canada in a position where they stand to lose more than they gain …show more content…
The real problems of price volatility and environmental sustainability are being failing to be addressed by NAFTA along with destroying rural communities and the ability of over two million small-scale Mexican farmers to earn a living. (IBID). These farmers are being forced off their lands and across the border to find work because the industrial jobs created in Mexico have poor pay and are unstable. (IBID)
The human rights covenants set out by the United Nations are incompatible with NAFTA and other corporate trade deals. The supremacy of human and cultural rights are not ensured by NAFTA and similar investor-state agreements and in many cases, stand in the way of their implementation (IBID). These mega-trade agreements, along with corporate tax cuts, are one of several tools, along with incentives to promote deregulation, privatization and elimination of public services which seek to shift power away from people and governments and towards the corporate sector. (IBID)
Tariff