Pascrell Voices Skepticism as New NAFTA Takes Effect

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and the Subcommittee on Trade, today issued a statement to mark the new North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) going into effect.

“My skepticism of Donald Trump’s administration has been validated time again and the rollout of the renegotiated NAFTA is no different. Mexico’s new labor law requires protection contracts to be thrown out, but the process for this to occur can be easily rigged. A leading Mexican labor lawyer remains imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Over 600 lawsuits are pending before the Mexican Supreme Court that could kill the law reform law protecting those very rights. No corporations have announced jobs are coming back from Mexico. There have been announcements of plans to increase production in Mexico. And let’s not forget the U.S. Department of Labor has certified over 175,000 trade-related job losses during Trump’s presidency.

“NAFTA destroyed American jobs for generations because of false promises issues baked into the agreement. I hope we’ve learned from our mistakes and are not doomed to repeat our past. But this administration’s record has given me little faith of what’s to come.”

Rep. Pascrell opposed NAFTA 2.0 due to its lack of enforcement mechanisms, stating that “the big questions on Mexican labor laws, enforcement mechanisms, American wages, and scope of environmental standards, among others, remain unanswered.” He has also led House efforts to end the outsourcing of American jobs with his Bring Jobs Home Act, which would close tax loopholes for companies who ship jobs overseas and provide tax relief for American companies that move jobs to the U.S. from another nation.

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