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 News from Around the Americas | February 2008 
Clinton and Obama Vow to Reopen NAFTA
 John Ibbitson - Globe and Mail
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| | US Democratic presidential candidates Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) rise at the conclusion of the last debate before the Ohio primary in Cleveland, Ohio, February 26, 2008. (Reuters/Aaron Josefczyk) | | |
Washington - Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would withdraw the United States from the North American free trade agreement with six months notice after becoming president, unless the deal were completely renegotiated.
The Democrats made the commitment yesterday at the final debate before next Tuesday's Texas and Ohio primaries.
Both candidates have been highly critical of the trade deal, saying it has cost thousands of Americans their jobs.
Asked whether she would inform Canada and Mexico that the U.S. government was activating the six-month opt-out clause under which any country can leave the deal, Ms. Clinton replied: "I've said that I will renegotiate NAFTA, so obviously we'd have to say to Canada and Mexico that that's exactly what we're going to do; ... we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it."
Ms. Clinton would demand new environmental and labour provisions as well as a new dispute-resolution mechanism, and she would eliminate the right of foreign firms to sue Washington for enacting measures to protect its workers.
All those demands would be negotiated with Canada and Mexico while the six-month opt-out clock ticked.
"I'm confident that as president, when I say we will opt out unless we renegotiate, that we will be able to renegotiate," Ms. Clinton said.
Mr. Obama agreed with Ms. Clinton's stand. "I will make sure that we renegotiate in the same way that Senator Clinton talked about," he said. "I think, actually, Senator Clinton's answer on this one is right. I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage."
This new Democratic ultimatum will leave the Canadian prime minister and the Mexican president with a powerful challenge to protect a trade agreement that has enmeshed all three countries' economies, although it could also open the door to an improved dispute- resolution mechanism, something Canada has long advocated.
Political junkies waited, breath bated, to see whether Ms. Clinton would take a roundhouse swing at Mr. Obama in last night's debate, her final televised opportunity to sway a nomination campaign that appears to be swinging inexorably in Mr. Obama's favour.
Instead, the new underdog in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination jabbed and poked, claiming that some of Mr. Obama's campaign literature was "very disturbing," and that, when reading his health-care platform "it's almost as though the health insurance companies and the Republicans wrote it."
Mr. Obama gravely disputed the accusation, and the whole debate quickly elevated into, yet again, a lengthy dispute over health-care policies.
If this is what one press report predicted would be the equivalent of Ms. Clinton throwing everything including "the kitchen sink" at Mr. Obama, in an effort to derail his growing popularity in Ohio and Texas, it must have come from a pretty small kitchen. Last night's 20th Democratic presidential primary debate might have been the last.
Unless Ms. Clinton is able to ring up convincing wins in both Ohio and Texas she will be under tremendous pressure to concede victory to Mr. Obama.
Those wins are becoming daily more problematic, with the polls narrowing in Ohio and Ms. Clinton essentially tied with Mr. Obama in Texas. Recent polls also have put Mr. Obama consistently ahead of Ms. Clinton nationally for the first time. A CBS News/New York Times survey has him at 54 per cent nationally, compared to 38 per cent for Ms. Clinton, a complete reversal of the leads that Ms. Clinton enjoyed going into the first caucuses and primaries in January. A USA Today poll had Mr. Obama ahead of Ms. Clinton 51 per cent to 39 per cent. And in the latest unkind cut, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, who abandoned his own bid for the nomination after placing seventh in the Iowa caucuses, endorsed Mr. Obama yesterday.
At a press conference, Mr. Dodd said Mr. Obama "has been poked and prodded, analyzed and criticized, called too green, too trusting and for all of that has already won" a plethora of states and millions of votes, including 11 straight unanswered victories since Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. What may matter most for Canadians, however, is that whoever the nominee might be, a Democratic victory in November will bring stark challenges to Canada and Mexico, as a trading relationship that has been accepted for a decade and a half is suddenly thrown into crisis. |
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