Free-Trade Pact
Morton M. Kondracke’s article (“Unruly Democrats Threaten NAFTA--and Clinton,” Commentary, March 21) takes a singularly myopic view.
Canada has lost an estimated 460,000 jobs as a result of signing an earlier free-trade agreement with the U.S. in 1989. In the wake of that agreement, Canada was prevented from introducing single-payer automobile insurance. In the U.S., the EPA’s ban on asbestos was blocked because it is a major Canadian export. Do we really want to relinquish our national sovereignty over these and other matters?
As a result of the Mexican government’s control over that country’s labor unions, workers’ rights are rendered ineffectual because of government corporate complicity. As Sen. Barbara Boxer stated, NAFTA side agreements should have the “teeth” of trade sanction provisions, otherwise passage should not be seriously considered.
KENT WEISHAUS
Los Angeles
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