NAFTA Seen Differently in Ohio, Texas

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080301/D8V4PLLG0.html

Mar 1, 1:02 PM (ET)

By BETH FOUHY

LAREDO, Texas (AP) - If the shuttered factories that dot the Ohio landscape tell the story of NAFTA, so too do the miles of trucks carrying auto parts, fruit and tequila across the Mexican border through this booming port city in South Texas.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio, which holds its primary Tuesday. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas, another delegate-rich state holding a primary the same day - one that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border since the agreement came into effect in 1994.


A police officer directs traffic in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. In fact, Laredo's biggest challenge has been managing its eye-popping growth since the agreement came into law. Locals still complain about the endless traffic bottlenecks on the freeways and bridges. (AP Photo/LM Otero)


Signed into law by President Bill Clinton, NAFTA opened up trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico by eliminating tariffs on most goods moved back and forth across those countries' borders. But the deal established no labor standards, encouraging manufacturers in Ohio and elsewhere to ship jobs to Mexico in order to produce goods more cheaply there.

NAFTA is highly unpopular in Ohio, where blue-collar workers are a pivotal force. But the agreement is widely praised in Laredo and other Texas border towns for bringing new life into a once poor and struggling region.

The border area - Laredo, the Rio Grand Valley - has been one of the areas most benefited by NAFTA. "There's no doubt about it," said Andres Rivas, an economics professor at Texas A&M International University who studies trade. "It's had a big, positive impact. I really don't see any down side."

FULL story at link.

NAFTA cuts the throat of American Labor in order to make a few bucks off Mexican Labor. Maybe a stiff tax on products going back and forth across the border could pay for retraining and relocation expense of all those who lost their job, their homes, and in some cases way of life. And the economics professor at Texas A&M sees NAFTA positive impact in his area, There is a America that you can trust.

And the Labor Forum.

Drug trafficing rising because they can't monitor all the border traffic. The Mexican side completely out of control. Yeah, it's been terrific.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-17-nuevo-laredo-cover_x.htm

Both Hillary and Obama are skirting the issue of Chapter 11 in NAFTA, which according to Working Life
( http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=7852 )from 2-29-08

" Over a number of months in this election season, I’ve focused in particular on the Chapter 11 provisions of so-called "free trade" deals like NAFTA. John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich were the only two candidates in the Democratic primary who were willing talk about the threat of the Chapter 11 rights ( http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=6892 ) imbedded in so-called "free trade"."

http://laborradio.org - Workers Independent News has also reported some discouraging news from the Obama front:

Is Obama Telling U.S. Voters One Thing And The Canadian Government Another On NAFTA?
( http://www.laborradio.org/node/8031 ) heres that story

"Canada’s CTV News says a senior economic advisor to Barack Obama’s campaign phoned the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. and told him that Obama’s anti-NAFTA statements are just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously. CTV says Austan Goolsbee, a free trader economist at the University of Chicago, made the call. Rick Sloan of the International Association of Machinists says it’s outrageous.

Sloan: “I think this story has such powerful resonance that if it’s out people are going to stop and say wait a second. Now, he tells us one thing, but before he tells us that he signals the Canadian government that it’s only just campaign rhetoric? That’s unconscionable.”

The Obama campaign denies that it’s saying one thing in public on NAFTA and secretly communicating the opposite to Canada’s government. But CTV News stands by its story, citing sources at the highest level of the Canadian government."

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Bottom line, labor must hold either candidate responsible for reform, without our coercing, corporate status quo will be the only dish on the menu.