U.S. trade deals to date have failed to address climate change, creating a major climate loophole that contributes to job loss and the climate crisis. Trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have made it easier for corporate polluters to dodge our hard-fought climate policies by shifting their climate pollution -- and jobs -- to countries with weaker climate standards. The U.S. is now the world’s largest outsourcer of climate pollution, spelling major job loss, thanks largely to trade deals like NAFTA that ignore climate change.
To close this climate loophole and support workers, U.S. trade deals -- including any renegotiated NAFTA -- must include binding climate standards. Unfortunately, Donald Trump's NAFTA 2.0 deal fails to even mention climate change. The deal would perpetuate the outsourcing of climate pollution and jobs, while giving handouts to oil and gas corporations that are notorious climate polluters.
Thankfully, the call for a climate-friendly NAFTA replacement has been growing in recent years. Leading environmental organizations, labor-environment coalitions, climate economists, and leading members of Congress have all been elevating this call over the last two years of NAFTA 2.0 talks. Here's what they've been saying:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Any changes to NAFTA must put America’s working families first, and recognize the fundamental connection between commerce and climate." (May 2017)
Leading environmental groups: "To close NAFTA’s pollution offshoring loophole, we have called for a rewritten deal to require each country to adopt, maintain, and implement robust climate...protections, such as policies that fulfil the Paris Climate Agreement..." (May 2018)
Labor Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy: "The agreement does not include any provisions to mitigate climate change while protecting union jobs. In order for any strategy to mitigate global climate change to succeed, all countries must do their respective parts. Failure to secure participation in these efforts could facilitate the offshoring of good American jobs in energy intensive and trade exposed industries..." (September 2018)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: A renegotiated NAFTA "should recognize that climate change is a grave threat to our countries’ economies and the health and safety of our citizens." (November 2018)
Senator Elizabeth Warren: "And NAFTA 2.0 does little to reduce pollution or combat the dangers of climate change – giving American companies one more reason to close their factories here and move to Mexico where the environmental standards are lower. That’s bad for the earth and bad for American workers. (November 2018)
BlueGreen Alliance: "NAFTA’s replacement should establish a binding floor of labor and environmental protections across North America. It should require signatory countries to adopt living wages for workers and to implement policies to fulfill important international labor and environmental agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement..." (August 2017)
Ways and Means Committee Democrats: "We are also disappointed that the environment chapter lacks any apparent provisions directed at mitigating the effects of climate change." (April 2019)
Senators Sanders, Gillibrand, Warren, Markey, Merkley, and Hirono: "Congress must not vote on a new NAFTA until each party adopts, maintains, implements -- and enforces -- ...policies that fulfill the Paris climate agreement and other core multilateral agreements." (February 2018)
Freshmen members of Congress: "Unless NAFTA 2.0's weak environmental terms are strengthened, firms will continue to outsource air, water, and climate pollution and jobs to Mexico." (June 2019)
Congressional Progressive Caucus: "A renegotiated NAFTA must halt the outsourcing of jobs and pollution by including strong environmental standards with swift and certain enforcement. Trade agreements must contain legally binding obligations for partner nations to adopt, maintain, implement, and strengthen policies to protect our air, water, and climate." (April 2018)
Senator Kamala Harris: "We need to do a better job in terms of thinking about the priorities that should be more apparent now than perhaps they were then, which are issues like the climate crisis and what we need to build into these trade agreements." (May 2019)
Center for American Progress: "...No trade agreement should fail to incorporate new, high-road approaches to environmental standards that recognize the costs of pollution and climate change." (February 2019)
Citizens Trade Campaign: "Congress must not vote on a NAFTA replacement until each party adopts, maintains, implements — and enforces —domestic laws that provide the labor rights and protections included in the International Labor Organization’s Core Conventions and policies that fulfill the Paris climate accord and other core multilateral environmental agreements." (March 2018)
Natural Resources Defense Council: "The greatest environmental challenge of the 21st Century cannot be ignored by 21st Century trade agreements...A trade deal that ignores the urgent threat of climate change is a non-starter." (May 2019)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: There need to be "considerations for climate in there." (May 2019)