From: harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Newsgroups: talk.environment
Subject: NAFTA COULD COST 150,000 JOBS LABOR SECRETARY SAYS
Date: 12 Sep 92 00:39:30 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB

[Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's trade.news]
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Topic 1dl57       TRADE.NEWS 9-11-92 
kmander Updates on GATT & NAFTA Negotiations     1:00 pm  Sep 11, 1992 
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TRADE NEWS BULLETIN 
Friday, September 11, 1992 
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NAFTA News Summary 
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NAFTA COULD COST 150,000 JOBS LABOR SECRETARY SAYS 

Labor Secretary Lynn Martin became the first Bush Administration  
official to admit publicly that the North American Free Trade  
Agreement could cost U.S. jobs.  In testimony before the Senate  
Finance Committee, Martin said NAFTA could put up to 150,000  
Americans out of work, but argued the Administration would offset  
the job losses by setting aside US$10 billion to retrain displaced  
workers.  Democratic senators criticized the program because the  
Administration has not suggested how to pay for it.   

	[But of course the Bush admin is such a good friend of
	 middle-class, blue-collar labor, we can trust them --HB]

U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills and other Administration  
officials had been asked repeatedly for an official figure on job  
losses, but until yesterday, officials had said economic studies  
showed job gains would exceed job losses.  A recent AFL-CIO study  
predicted NAFTA could lead to a loss of 500,000 jobs. 

The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled its own hearing on  
NAFTA for September 16.  The hearing will focus on the treaty's  
agricultural trade provisions and its effects on the U.S. agricultural  
economy, food safety and pesticide standards, and related  
environmental issues, announced Committee Chairman Kika de la  
Garza (D-Texas).  USTR Hills and top officials from the departments of  
Agriculture, Labor, and the Environmental Protection Agency have  
been asked to testify. 

Source: Tim Shorrock, "Labor Secretary Says NAFTA Could Cost  
150,000 US Jobs," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, September 11, 1992;  
Keith Bradsher, "Trade Pact Could Cost Up to 150,000 U.S. Jobs," NEW  
YORK TIMES, September 11, 1992; "House Agriculture Committee  
Schedules Hearing on NAFTA and Agriculture," NEWS RELEASE,  
September 3, 1992. 
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CLINTON: NAFTA LACKS IMPORTANT PROVISIONS 

Democratic Presidential nominee Bill Clinton said the North American  
Free Trade Agreement appears to lack important provisions  
concerning the environment and labor.  "There is nothing in the  
agreement about worker retraining -- the President really has no  
proposal on that -- and very little about environmental cleanup, two  
things he made real commitments on," Clinton said during a  
television interview. 

Clinton added that he did not want to "prejudge the agreement until  
I have the time to study it, because we do need one if it's the right  
one."  Clinton's remarks followed a Wednesday statement by House  
Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri) demanding that  
NAFTA be renegotiated because it lacked acceptable environmental  
and labor provisions. 

President Bush has sharply criticized Clinton in recent weeks for not  
taking a definitive stand on the agreement, leading some business  
leaders to encourage Bush to soften his attacks.  Kay Whitmore,  
chairman of Eastman Kodak Co. and a key adviser to the White House  
on NAFTA, said it is fair for Clinton to reserve judgment on the treaty  
until he has had an opportunity to review it.  "We've tried to say to  
both (Democrats and Republicans), 'Please don't over-politicize this,  
it's too important.'" 

An opinion-editorial in today's WALL STREET JOURNAL urges Clinton  
to state an opinion on NAFTA so that if he is elected to the White  
House, the American public would know "whether he would listen to  
the free trade angel who sits on his right shoulder, or the fallen  
archangel Gephardt perched on his left." 

Source: "Clinton Criticizes Free Trade Pact," NEW YORK TIMES,  
September 11, 1992, p. A13; John Maggs, "Business Leader Raps  
Politicizing of Trade Pact," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, September 11,  
1992, p. 1; "Slick Traders," WALL STREET JOURNAL, September 11,  
1992, p. A10. 
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POPULATION EXPERT: NAFTA WON'T DECREASE IMMIGRATION 

In a letter to the editor of the NEW YORK TIMES, Donald Mann,  
president of Negative Population Growth, rejects the widely held  
view that improving the Mexican economy through NAFTA will  
reduce illegal immigration to the United States.  Mann argues the  
explosive growth of Mexico's population and labor force will continue  
the "pressures that drive millions of Mexicans across our southern  
border illegally." 

Source: Donald Mann, "Trade Pact Won't Cut Illegal Immigration,"  
NEW YORK TIMES, September 11, 1992, p. A14. 
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PBS BROADCASTS DEBATE ON FREE TRADE 

The PBS program "Firing Line" will broadcast tonight a debate over  
the proposition, "United States Industry Does Not Need Protection."   
Espousing the virtues of free trade are political commentator William  
F. Buckley, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Secretary of  
Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp and Rep. Dick Armey (R- 
Texas).  Those advocating at least some degree of protection are Rep.  
Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri), economist Lester Thurow, ATLANTIC  
MONTHLY editor James Fallows and former California governor Jerry  
Brown. 

The program, which was taped last week at the University of  
Mississippi, is moderated by Michael Kinsley. 

Source: Walter Goodman, "The Big Guns Take Sides in Trade-Policy  
Debate," NEW YORK TIMES, September 11, 1992, p. B7. 
_________________________________________________________ 
Produced by: 
Kai Mander, The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) 
1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite #303 
Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546 USA 
Telephone:(612)379-5980 Fax:(612)379-5982 E- 
Mail:kmander@igc.org 
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