[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1712-E1713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NAFTA, THE FAILED EXPERIMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 10, 1997

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, a recent report compiled by some of 
America's leading economic, environmental, and labor authorities has 
confirmed what many people, including myself, have known since 1994--
NAFTA has failed.
  ``The Failed Experiment: NAFTA at Three Years,'' a comprehensive 
analysis of the trade pact, is a cooperative effort of the Economic 
Policy Institute, Institute for Policy Studies, the Sierra Club, U.S. 
Business and Industrial Council Educational Foundation, the 
International Labor Rights Fund, and Public Citizen's Global Trade 
Watch. It should be required reading for all Members of Congress as we 
debate and vote on giving fast-track negotiating authority to the 
President as he prepares to expand NAFTA to Chile and other Latin 
American nations.
  The portrait of NAFTA that these organizations have rendered is not 
pretty, but it is hardly surprising to those who have kept a close 
watch on its corrosive effect on not only the United States, but Mexico 
and Canada as well.
  The even-handed analysis in this report has shown what many have 
instinctively known since NAFTA went into effect in 1994--this deal has 
cost us dearly in American jobs. It is estimated that there has been a 
net loss of 400,000 jobs due to NAFTA.
  And not only has NAFTA cost us jobs, but it has put a crimp in the 
standard of living of other workers. As our trade deficit has exploded 
to $39 billion with Mexico and Canada in 1996, United States wages have 
continued to head south. The ``Failed Experiment'' again demonstrates 
the link between trade deficits and stagnating wages among all workers. 
NAFTA has accelerated this trend, and has made is much easier for 
American manufacturers to pack up and leave when workers begin to 
demand wage fairness. When faced with bargaining with a union, 15 
percent of firms actually closed part or all of their plant, which is 
triple the rate of the late 1980's.
  And what of the promises of assistance to workers displaced by NAFTA? 
According to the Department of Labor, only 5,300 workers have received 
NAFTA transitional adjustment assistance. Clearly, these programs have 
only helped a tiny fraction of the people they were intended to reach.
  The ``Failed Experiment'' also catalogs how NAFTA has threatened our 
health, safety, and environment. For instance, maquiladora 
manufacturing slums in northern Mexico have contributed to cross-border 
pollution in places such as El Paso, TX, where the ozone level is now 
at dangerous levels 75 percent of the time. Due to a lack of United 
States inspectors, unsafe food has streamed into this country from 
Mexico, with the recent strawberry contamination scare being just one 
example of the problem. More than 7 percent of all crop imports from 
Mexico are estimated to contain illegal pesticides, with such meal-time 
fixtures as lettuce and carrots at well over 10 percent. In addition, 
more than a quarter of Mexican trucks that roll into Texas each day are 
loaded with hazardous materials such as corrosives,

[[Page E1713]]

chemicals, explosives, jet fuel, poisons, and toxic wastes. These 
trucks are required to only meet Mexico's lax safety standards. For 
example, Mexico does not require tractor-trailers to have front brakes. 
Only a last minute decision in 1995 by President Clinton, under 
pressure from myself and other Members of Congress, prevents Mexican 
tractor-trailer trucks from entering the United States.
  Perhaps if our trading partners had seen some improvement in the 
standard of living of their citizens during the last 3 years, there 
would have been some benefit from NAFTA. However, the study paints a 
grim picture of the free trade ``boom'' for the people of Mexico and 
Canada.
  Despite the flow of American jobs and capital to our north and south, 
the average worker has benefited little, if not at all.
  In Mexico, the average wage has plummeted since 1993, from $2.40 to 
$1.51 per hour. In addition, the last 3 years have seen the loss of 2 
million jobs and the destruction of 28,000 small businesses.
  Part of these problems are attributable to the Mexican peso 
devaluation of 1995, but as the ``Failed Experiment'' explains so well, 
the financial crisis was an inevitable part of Mexico's NAFTA plan. The 
Mexican Government purposely kept the peso's value too high for too 
long for a number of reasons, but mainly in the hopes of impressing 
upon the world that its economy was in better shape than it really was. 
The bottom had to fall out of the peso after the treaty was approved in 
order for Mexico to attract the foreign investment it so desperately 
wanted and make Mexican exports cheaper to other countries. 
Unfortunately, this type of cynical mentality still runs Mexico, and 
the signs for another peso crash and more misery for working Mexicans 
are on the horizon.
  Meanwhile, our northern neighbor, Canada, has seen a steady decline 
in its standard of living since joining the United States as the 
original signatories of NAFTA in 1989. The Canadians have been mired in 
a recession with unemployment hovering at around 10 percent and the 
country's comprehensive social safety net is being dismantled in the 
name of competitiveness. Canada's policies and practices have been 
harmonized with the rest of North America's--downward.
  As Congress examines extending fast-track negotiating authority, I 
urge my colleagues to read ``Failed Experiment'' and keep in mind the 
unpleasant track record of this trade pact for not only the United 
States, but all its participants.

                          ____________________