Clinton on NAFTA@3 years: RESPONSE

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  MY FRIENDS -- 
  This is a rebuttal we issued in prompt response to the Administration's 
  three-year assessment of the NAFTA experience.  We were intrigued to note 
  the "NAFTA Success Stories" which the political flacks and "analysts" in 
  the White House/USTR were able to "identify."  Read on.
  
  Mike Dolan, Field Director
  Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
  **************
  Public Citizen: NAFTA's Broken Promises and the U.S. Trade Representative's 
  Report on NAFTA's Three Years
  
  Today the office of United States Trade Representative released its "Study 
  on the Operation and Effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement." 
  In conjunction with the study, USTR released a list of "NAFTA Success 
  Stories": companies which claim benefits due to NAFTA.
  
  Amazingly, this list includes three companies documented as having failed 
  to keep NAFTA job creation or NAFTA export promises in Public Citizen's 
  February 1997 report, "NAFTA's Broken Promises: Failure to Create U.S. 
  Jobs." In this release we compare the claims of USTR for these companies 
  with the reality under NAFTA.
  
  Allied-Signal is an Aerospace manufacturer; its corporate headquarters are 
  in Morristown, New Jersey.
  
  WHAT THEY SAY NOW, ACCORDING TO USTR:
  
  "Allied Signal supported the idea of a NAFTA when first discussed in the 
  1980's. We supported the agreement as passed in 1993. And we support it 
  today."
  
  What they said in 1993
  During the NAFTA debate in 1993, when asked by CNN news anchor Lou Dobbs on 
  CNN's "Moneyline" about whether Allied-Signal would move U.S. jobs to 
  Mexico if Congress passed NAFTA, company Chairman Lawrence Bossidy 
  responded, "I think quite the contrary, Lou. I think the jobs that were to 
  move to Mexico have already moved there," CNN "Moneyline" August, 23, 1993. 
  
  
  
  Reality:
  When Public Citizen asked about Allied Signal's experience under NAFTA, 
  Vice President of Corporate Affairs Mark Greenberg said, "We decline to 
  comment on NAFTA." By now 1,125 American workers who were Allied Signal 
  employees have been certified as having lost their jobs due to NAFTA. This 
  included 130 workers in Charlotte, NC; 3 workers in El Paso, TX; 183 
  workers in Greenville, OH; 525 workers in Greenville, AL, all due to 
  relocation of production to Mexico; 70 workers in Eatontown, NJ; 77 workers 
  in Orangeburg, SC, due to relocation of production to Canada; and 137 
  workers in South Montrose, PA, due to NAFTA imports.
  
  Eastman Kodak is a photographic and duplication product manufacturing 
  company headquartered in Rochester, New York.
  
  WHAT THEY SAY NOW, ACCORDING TO USTR:
  
  "NAFTA has already been good for the United States, Kodak, and for 
  Rochester -and it will only get better." CEO Daniel Carp
  
  What they said in 1993
  
  "With these trade barriers out of the way, Kodak anticipates that it will 
  double its US exports to Mexico to $250 million by 1995 and double them 
  again to $500 million by the year 2000," NAFTA: We Need It: How U.S. 
  Companies View Their Business Prospects Under NAFTA, National Association 
  of Manufacturers, Washington, DC, November 1993. p. xiii.
  
  Reality:
  When interviewed for Public Citizen's report, Charlie Smith, spokesperson 
  for Kodak's Corporate Media Relations, said that Kodak sales in Mexico have 
  "declined." "Exports from our manufacturing areas in Mexico have been 
  approximately 55% to the U.S. and Canada," he said.  Kodak exports from 
  Mexico to the U.S. and Canada "increased more than 20% in both 1995 and 
  1996."
  
  Proctor and Gamble Personal Care is a food, cleaning, and industrial 
  product manufacturer headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  
  WHAT THEY SAY NOW, ACCORDING TO USTR:
  
  "Had we not been able to expand our business globally_we'd be a much 
  smaller company today. We'd employ fewer American workers, and those jobs 
  we did provide here would be less secure."
  
  What they said in 1993
  
  "We [Proctor and Gamble] support NAFTA because it will enable us to expand 
  our business in and our exports to Mexico.  Since that country opened its 
  market in 1986, our exports of goods and services have grown from almost 
  nothing to over $100 million.  We should approach $200 million in the next 
  5 to 10 years...The result would mean more than double the 1,500 U.S. jobs 
  currently supplying our business in Mexico to approximately 3,500 jobs," 
  Statement of John E. Pepper, President, The Proctor & Gamble Company before 
  the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Hearing on NAFTA, September 21, 1993.
  
  When interviewed by Public Citizen, Proctor and Gamble spokesperson Terry 
  Loftus, said that since the peso devaluation the rate of exports had slowed 
  down. The company had no specific figures on exports or if jobs were 
  created.
  
  Meanwhile, 74 workers in Quincy, MA have been laid off by Proctor and 
  Gamble due to relocation of production to Canada and 170 workers in 
  Hatboro, PA, have been laid off by Proctor and Gamble due to relocation of 
  production to Mexico under NAFTA.
  
  ********************
  NGO!
  Now Go Organize:  You want to be ready when your congressioanl delegation 
  comes home for the August recess because afterwards, when they come back to 
  this town, they'll debate whether to expand NAFTA and whether to pass that 
  legislative laxative that's bad for the constitution -- "fast track" trade 
  negotiating authority.
  
  MD