[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NAFTA RENEGOTIATIONS BEGIN

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, this week, the fourth round of NAFTA 
renegotiations will begin. President Trump will have an opportunity to 
deliver on his promise last year to get a better deal for American 
workers. I hope he does.
  Our current trade deals are rigged in favor of the largest 
corporations in this country and against working people. In my home 
State of Rhode Island, we have lost 41,000 manufacturing jobs since 
NAFTA and the WTO took effect. That is more than half of the 
manufacturing jobs in my State. The folks who kept their jobs have seen 
their paychecks get smaller.
  Rhode Islanders know, most importantly, that we need a trade deal 
that is fair; but they know that trade deals that we have now help 
powerful corporations, but they are killing American jobs, helping 
corporations outsource jobs at the expense of working people.
  This week I am asking President Trump to demand a new NAFTA agreement 
that has strong labor and environmental protections, that end foreign 
tribunals that allow corporations to sue the U.S. Government and force 
taxpayers to pay the bill, that has better Buy American requirements, 
that has strict protections against currency manipulation, that has 
strong rules of origin on manufactured goods, and that has provisions 
that bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
  These are commonsense provisions that will empower American working 
families, and they should be included in any new trade agreement.

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