Meet the New NAFTA, Same as the Old NAFTA?

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump called for protection of jobs. Did he mean tariffs or other measures to keep employment in the United States? Or was he talking about stronger labor protection, such as the right to organize? The renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, which began August 16, mean the cards will soon be on the table.

Given that many of the new proposed provisions lack specific language and effective enforcement mechanisms to protect labor rights and the environment, critics say, the new NAFTA risks being much the same as the old NAFTA.

One party that would seem to have strong incentive to alter the existing NAFTA agreement is Canada. As of 2015, the government had been sued thirty-nine times under the existing investor-state dispute mechanisms, which allows companies to sue governments for alleged trade discrimination. Canada has had to pay out some $215 million.

Given that many of the new proposed provisions lack specific language and effective enforcement mechanisms to protect labor rights and the environment, critics say, the new NAFTA risks being much the same as the old NAFTA.

Two days prior to the reopening of the negotiations, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, gave a speech in which she extolled NAFTA but also called for changes to the controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in particular.

"Canada's economy is 2.5 percent larger every year than it otherwise would be, thanks to NAFTA," she said. She also called for "reforming the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process, to ensure that governments have an unassailable right to regulate in the public interest," along with strengthened labor and environmental protections at the core of NAFTA.