CCPA submission to Global Affairs Canada on the renegotiation and modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Global Affairs Canada is consulting Canadians on their priorities for, and concerns about, the planned renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In CCPA’s submission to this process, Scott Sinclair, Stuart Trew and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood point out how NAFTA has failed to live up to its promise with respect to job and productivity growth, and clearly has not shielded Canada from unilateral U.S. trade actions that hurt Canadian exports. If NAFTA renegotiation is to have any chance of improving the welfare of all North Americans, they argue, it must be inclusive, transformative and forward-looking—focused on today’s real challenges, including climate change, the changing nature of work, stagnant welfare gains and unacceptable levels of inequality in all three North American countries. NAFTA should be renegotiated so that it helps us achieve the sustainable and equitable society we want, not to uphold an uninspiring and untenable status quo.
