Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310280088
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TORONTO LENGTH: Medium
The new uncertainty about NAFTA in Canada could make the deal an even tougher sell for President Clinton, who has been working to build support before the U.S. Congress votes Nov. 17 on whether to ratify it.
NAFTA opponents in Washington say Monday's landslide victory of Canada's Liberal Party could doom the pact.
Prime Minister-designate Jean Chretien, who has pledged to renegotiate NAFTA, noted that, although the treaty was ratified in Canada last May, the vote isn't valid until it is officially enacted.
But the Liberal Party leader declined to say if he was seeking concessions from Washington before enacting it.
"In Canada, no law is effective until proclaimed, so we still have this option," he said.
"In our program, we were asking for changes to NAFTA. Two have been dealt with, labor and environment." He said three more are left: exact definitions of subsidies and dumping, and changes in the provisions concerning energy.
President Clinton said he plans to go ahead with his efforts to push it through Congress. "I see no reason to renegotiate the agreement," he said Tuesday.
But the Clinton administration has left open the possibility of additional side talks outside the deal to address Canadian grievances.
If ratified, NAFTA is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.
During last year's U.S. election campaign, Clinton conditioned his support for NAFTA on the addition of side accords to boost environmental protection and workers' rights. Those deals were signed last month at the White House.
A 1989 trade agreement with the United States, which would be superseded by NAFTA, obligates the United States to negotiate a code with Canada on dumping and subsidies within the first seven years, Chretien said.
That provision was dropped from NAFTA, but Chretien says the original deal still is valid.
NAFTA is widely unpopular in Canada. Polls show 46-58 percent of those surveyed are against it.
Many Canadians think the existing U.S.-Canadian agreement already has cost hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs and will only get worse with the inclusion of Mexico. With unemployment already at 11.2 percent in Canada, even a few more jobs lost is too many.
Chretien's election platform claimed that flaws in the 1989 agreement have led to a long series of disputes and harassment by the United States over trade in steel, pork and softwood lumber.
NAFTA did not correct these flaws, the platform says.
The proposed NAFTA agreement would create the world's largest free trade zone by eliminating most trade barriers among the United States, Canada and Mexico over the next 15 years.
The new Canadian leader said he already has spoken by telephone with Clinton and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, but he said there was no substantive discussion of free trade in those conversations.
Chretien's left-of-center Liberals returned to power after nine years with 178 seats in the 295-seat House of Commons.
by CNB