Trade

The United States Empire Is Falling. What Does That Mean?

January 16, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG Radio. Podcast China, Trade, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

In his latest book, "In the Shadow of the American Century: The rise and decline of US global power," Alfred McCoy writes about the tools used by the United States to maintain global domination and how its status is declining. McCoy predicts that China will replace the US as the dominant global power holder by 2030. We speak with him about US Empire, what the decline will look like and how it will impact people in the US and around the world.

Day 8 Of Countdown To Launch: Daniel Cooper Bermudez

December 3, 2017 Daniel Cooper Bermudez, www.popularresistance.org Organize! TPP, Trade, Worker Rights

By Daniel Cooper Bermudez. Trade for People and Planet is a campaign created by Popular Resistance, an organization that has been fighting for justice since 2013 with roots growing far before then. Popular Resistance is designed to operate from the two-prong strategy: create and resist. This is how Trade forPeople and Planet was born. Years of fighting the Trans-Pacific Partnership resulted in wide swaths of the general population putting pressure on the US government to pull out of the deal. Through Popular Resistance’s “Flush The TPP” campaign, hundreds of people protested through petitions, protests, marches, lobby days, direct action… we did whatever we could to stop the deal. And it worked.

Market Economy: Deep Roots Of Dysfunction

December 2, 2017 Jane Roelofs, www.globaljusticecenter.org Create! Capitalism, Labor, Trade, Worker Rights

By Jane Roelofs for the Center for Global Justice. There is nothing new in the disaster anticipated from NAFTA. The market economy hasn't "broken down," or suddenly reached environmental limits. Its inherent faults are simply more clearly manifest in an age of mass communication and heightened consciousness. Here I will focus on the conflict between the market—the backbone of capitalism—and Green values. Many people, even some socialists, believe that both trade and commodification are beneficial. These processes, essential to the creation of a market economy, are considered progressive because they offer both more choice and a larger amount of stuff. While these effects cannot be disputed, their hidden costs in human and environmental terms must be taken into account.

Act Out!: 400+ Reasons To Eat The Rich And More

November 23, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com Resistance Report #NoNAFTA2, NAFTA, Trade, wealth inequality

By Eleanor Goldfield for Occupy.com. This week on Act Out!, tempting though it may be to ignore all things real and political for the next few days, hiding behind cranberry sauce and turkey legs won't change the ever-widening and gaping abyss before us. Dive in with us as we survey our grotesquely top-heavy economy and where people like you and me stand today. Next up, some headlines from Scotland to Syria to why the oil and gas industries are racist. And finally, NAFTA renegotiations plus an expert take on what's to come and what we can do about it.

NAFTA Renegotiation More Important Now Than Ever

November 22, 2017 Celeste Drake, aflcio.org Resist! Assassination, Mexico, NAFTA, Trade, Workers

By Celeste Drake for AFL-CIO - The need to fundamentally improve the labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement took on a new urgency over the weekend, as a group of armed civilians, calling themselves the “Tonalapa Community Police,” (Policía Comunitaria de Tonalapa) attacked striking workers, killing two, at the Media Luna mine in Guerrero, Mexico. The murders occurred just five hours south of Mexico City, where representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico are in the midst of their fifth round of talks about rewriting NAFTA. The aggressors, meanwhile, were released after being briefly detained by an army squadron. The striking workers, who want to be represented by the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic (Los Mineros) and are demanding the removal of the employer-dominated "labor" federation CTM (Confederación de Trabajadores de México), identified local CTM leaders as among those responsible for the attack. The practice of false unions siding with the employer over workers is a common feature of Mexico’s failed labor relations model. Employer-dominated "labor" federations are antithetical to the idea of democratic worker-led unions whose goal is to help workers build better lives.

TPP Now ‘Comprehensive & Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership’

November 18, 2017 Staff, otherwords.org Educate! Capitalism, Reform, TPP, Trade

By Staff of Flush The TPP - On November 11th, the TPP-11 countries announced reaching an agreement on reforms that have been negotiated since the United States exited the deal. The most evident one is its new name which is meant to appease world-wide criticism as one of the worst trade deals for the people ever negotiated. They now want to call it the ‘Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership’ or CPTPP. We are well aware of how world leaders are intentionally trying to avoid easy to remember acronyms due to the brand-busting campaigns that have caused the global opposition to corporate trade deals. Re-branding it as a progressive deal cannot hide what remains behind the deal, such as the ISDS. An official announcement declared that “Ministers are pleased to announce that they have agreed on the core elements of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.” This reformed deal eliminated 20 sections of the original TPP text, including provisions related to pharmaceutical products, patent protection, copyright and intellectual property. However, the agreement is still far from progressive and far from being signed as Canada is insisting it will not be pressured into a deal that is not good for Canadians. An analysis of the deal by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) welcomes the suspension of the Intellectual Property provisions, which were amongst the most dangerous of the provisions in the original TPP deal.

Trump Cracks Down On Trade And Travel To Cuba

November 17, 2017 Medea Benjamin, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Cuba, Finance and the Economy, Right to Travel, Trade, Trump

By Medea Benjamin. On Wednesday, November 8, just as President Trump was clinching new business deals with the repressive Communist government of China, the Trump administration announced its new rules rolling back President Obama’s opening with Cuba. The new regulations restricting travel and trade with the Caribbean island will make it once again illegal for Americans to travel to Cuba without a special license from the Treasury Department and will dramatically reduce the number of Americans traveling there. The regulations, which include a list of 180 banned entities, are supposed to punish hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military and instead direct economic activity toward businesses controlled by regular Cuban citizens.

The Third Track: Trade That Builds Our Economy Anew

October 24, 2017 Staff, www.iatp.org Create! Economics, NAFTA, TPP, Trade

By Staff of IATP - President Trump is playing high stakes poker in the NAFTA talks, with his US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, at the helm. Laura Dawson, director of the Wilson Centre’s Canada Centre published an op-ed on 11 October in which she suggests there are two tracks to the NAFTA talks – one is moving ahead with the “easy consensus” (i.e. tracking new issues that gained prominence in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations), while the other, driven by Trump’s tweets and America First Agenda, is putting the whole enterprise at risk with incendiary statements and impossible demands. The agenda moving ahead for NAFTA reform seeks regulatory harmonization (to the lowest standard), longer monopolies on technology through tighter patent controls, and an extension of foreign investor rights over domestic legislation. It is an agenda much of the U.S. business community is squarely behind, and Canada’s and Mexico’s business communities, too. That agenda was moving along, its path likely smoothed by the fact that many of the negotiators knew one another from the TPP talks. NAFTA empowers an economics many civil society organizations have resisted for decades, whether trade unions, farm organizations, environmentalists, women’s organizations or church groups.

Protesters Demand End To Corporate Courts, Transparency In NAFTA

October 12, 2017 Daniel Cooper Bermudez, www.tradeforpeopleandplanet.org Resist! Globalization, NAFTA, TPP, Trade

By Daniel Cooper Bermudez for Trade for People and Planet. Arlington, VA - Official negotiators were met by protesters demanding that the deal do away with the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a system of tribunals through which multi-national corporations have sued governments for millions of dollars for implementing stronger labor and environmental standards, and to implement transparent and participatory practices in the deal’s remaking. Activists stood in front of the Sheraton in Arlington, Virginia – where negotiations are taking place from October 11-15 – with a giant Trump puppet and signs that read “Democracy not Corporatocracy” and “Transparency: Release the Text!”

Left And Right Have Nothing In Common On NAFTA

October 11, 2017 Stephanie Basile, www.popularresistance.org Strategize! Capitalism, NAFTA, Trade, Unions, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Stephanie Basile for Popular Resistance. Washington, DC - Today, the fourth round of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are taking place in Washington, DC. Protests are planned at multiple locations around DC, including a petition delivery of over 360,000 signatures to Congress demanding the elimination of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). United under the threat from continually expanding corporate power, the fight against NAFTA has brought together a cross-section of social movements, including unions, community groups, land reform movements, environmentalists, food safety groups, and internet rights organizations.

Possibilities For Economic Evolution: Trade

September 24, 2017 Peter Weisberg, www.globaljusticecenter.org Create! Democracy, Human Rights, New Economy, Sustainability, Trade

By Peter Weisberg for The Center for Global Justice. Like a global vampire that drains the blood of one victim after another, so too does the neo-liberal economic system. Under the misleading name of "free trade," it drains the world of all resources vital to the life of the planet, including the value of human life. Trade—just like money, profits, and growth—has been viewed as an end in and of itself. Trade is, however, not the goal. It is simply a tool that we can use to further our universal goals of improving human rights, justice, sustainability, and democracy. I was asked to consider what a model of world fair trade might look like. My research revealed a common core of values among many if not most progressive organizations.

This Saturday: #NoNAFTA2 Twitter Storm

September 21, 2017 Trade for People and Planet Resist! Economic Justice, NAFTA, Trade, Trade Justice, Twitter

Trade For People and Planet and Popular Resistance are launching Twitter Storms during every round of NAFTA negotiations! To see all the tweets, check this article out. Join us to say #NoNAFTA2, because we have no confidence in a racist Trump administration to care for all working people and the environment! Because no trade deal should pass that divides and disempowers our communities! Round 3 is starting in Ottawa this September 23rd, join us in letting negotiators know that we will NOT accept any trade deals that put profits and corporate sovereignty over people, the environment, and democracy.

BDS – Expressing Solidarity While Conducting Trade With Israel Is Hypocrisy

September 13, 2017 Miko Peled, www.ahtribune.com Educate! BDS, Israel, Trade

By Miko Peled for American Herold Tribune - Israel is all geared up for war against the call for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and the de-legitimization of the Zionist state. The ministry of strategic affairs headed by Gil’ad Erdan - which is charged with this task - is now equipped with a budget, a former Israeli army general, retired Brig. General Sima Vakini-Gil who acts as the ministry’s General Director and a new assistant to the General Director, Tsahi Gavrieli who has brought a new wind to the sails of the anti-BDS ship. Gavrieli brought in a team that includes legal experts, economists and media people and according to a story recently published in Hebrew on Ynet they call on the Israeli public to take part in the campaign. According to the story, some parts of the campaign are overt and some covert, and the ministry will no longer be on the defensive but take an active, offensive position. Israelis are now encouraged to join this campaign with apps like ACT.IL which shows how to take the fight on social media and combat the “slurs” against Israel. According to Gavrieli the BDS movement is losing ground in the US, and he brings as examples recent laws passed by over twenty states that criminalize the call to boycott Israel.

Newsletter – No #NAFTA2, Yes To Trade For People & Planet

September 10, 2017 Daniel Cooper Bermudez, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Environment, Indigenous Rights, Internet Freedom, NAFTA, Neoliberalism, Poverty, Racism, TPP, Trade, Trump, Worker Rights and Jobs

By Daniel Cooper Bermudez. The Trump administration is renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico in secret, just as President Obama did with the TPP. Over the past two decades, NAFTA has resulted in workers losing their jobs and being replaced by machinery, ruined family farms throughout the continent, displaced communities and privatized social services, environmental disasters like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a widespread attack on labor rights and unions. This week, we explain our opposition to NAFTA2 and put forward a strategy to remake trade so it is no longer corporate-driven trade for the profits of a few, but people-driven trade to benefit all and protect the planet.

Renegotiating NAFTA Is Putting Lipstick On A Pig

August 27, 2017 Robert E. Scott, www.epi.org Educate! Money, NAFTA, Trade, Trump

By Robert E. Scott for Economic Policy Institute. The first round of the Trump administration’s NAFTA renegotiations began in Washington wrapped up on Saturday. The negotiators will meet again in September in Mexico City and then again in October in Canada. The United States has not yet proposed any specific measures on important issues such as labor rights, currency manipulation, or rules of origin. By all accounts, these negotiations are more likely to hurt than help most working Americans, who would be better served by efforts to target countries with large, global trade surpluses such as China, the European Union (EU) and Japan. Rather than tinkering around the edges of NAFTA, the United States should begin a campaign to realign the U.S. dollar and rebalance global trade.

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