Fast Track Talking Points

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  INTRODUCTORY NOTE
  
  In his August 23rd weekly radio address, President Clinton sounded the 
  broad messages that the Administration will rely on during the fast-track 
  debate. He told listeners that the continued economic well-being of the 
  country depended on expanding trade; that if the U.S. faltered in its 
  leadership on trade, other countries would rush in to exploit our 
  hesitation; and that trade played a positive role in harmonizing our 
  shrinking global community.
  
  In other words, corporate and government supporters of NAFTA expansion can 
  be expected to continue trying to tap into the common sense belief  that 
  America does need to pursue peaceful commerce with other nations _ that we 
  can't build walls against trade in this shrinking modern world.  
  
  The Clinton Administration did modify their public stance to some degree in 
  July when they issued their three-year review of NAFTA performance. To gain 
  credibility, they intentionally underplayed NAFTA's accomplishments and 
  fell back to a position similar to the medical profession's Hippocratic 
  doctrine of "do no harm." NAFTA, they argued, hasn't been everything we 
  promised. But it has made modest gains, done no harm, and thereby qualifies 
  to be continued and expanded.
  
  
  The talking points below are suggested as a way to get at the NAFTA 
  supporters' core argument, while we continue to hammer away at NAFTA's 
  specific record.   
  
  
  
  EXAMPLE OF A GENERAL MESSAGE
  
   "We agree with the President that we need trade to keep our economy 
  healthy. But before Congress gives the President free reign to negotiate 
  any new trade agreements, our legislators should require the President to 
  change the basic NAFTA trade rules that we now see have hurt, not helped, 
  average American families."
  
  
  How to change the NAFTA model to make it fair and balanced -- three 
  examples:
  
   	SAFEGUARD THE RIGHTS OF WORKING FAMILIES, NOT JUST CORPORATE INTERESTS - 
  The current NAFTA agreement has hundreds of pages devoted to protecting 
  corporate profits.  Nothing in the current NAFTA agreement protects even 
  the most fundamental labor rights, such as the right to collectively 
  bargain.  Nothing in the current NAFTA model stops corporations from 
  closing U.S. factories that provide good-paying jobs and shifting 
  production to plants in Mexico that can pay $4 a day. 
   
   	REMOVE NAFTA PROVISIONS THAT ENCOURAGE CORPORATIONS TO ATTACK 
  ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS  - Multinational corporations have the right under NAFTA 
  to file special court challenges to overturn environmental laws that get in 
  the way of trade profits.  The Ethyl Corporation of Virginia has filed a 
  $250 million suit against Canadian government, under NAFTA rules, after 
  Canada banned a toxic gasoline additive. If Ethyl wins its case, 
  governments will have to pay polluters not to pollute in order to protect 
  public health. 
  
   	 GUARANTEE ADEQUATE BORDER INSPECTION AND LAW ENFORCEMENT - The dramatic 
  increase in Mexican border commerce  has overwhelmed U.S. law enforcement 
  capacity to intercept everything from tainted food and unsafe trucks to 
  illegal drugs flowing north and guns flowing south.  The last thing our 
  trade agreements should do is to make the jobs of law enforcement officers 
  even harder. 
  
  
  
  SAMPLE `SOUNDBITES'
  
  1.	"How can we talk about giving the President special "fast track" 
  authority to rush through new trade deals when our current NAFTA trade 
  rules have failed so miserably?  You don't start on a vacation knowing that 
  the family car has bad brakes and an oil leak.  NAFTA trade rules already 
  have opened us up to tainted food outbreaks, unsafe Mexican trucks on our 
  Interstates, and a flow of illegal drugs that is overwhelming law 
  enforcement.  First change the faulty trade rules that endanger average 
  American families, then go after more trade."
  
  
  2.	"Expanding trade under our current faulty trade rules is a real loser 
  for American families: You don't build a new addition on a house with a 
  cracked foundation and leaky roof.  According to the Sierra Club for 
  example, NAFTA trade rules have created the conditions for an environmental 
  catastrophe along our 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Change the faulty 
  rules, then go after more world trade."
  
  [Steve Wattanmaker wrote these.  Thanks, Steve - ed.]