Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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December 2, 2007 7:53 PM
Trade and the States
The Associated Press has this crucially important story out on the wire:
International trade tribunals seen trumping state laws
By Dave Gram, Associated Press Writer | December 2, 2007
MONTPELIER, Vt. --A Canadian company wants to open a new plant in Claremont, N.H., to bottle fresh water from a source in Stockbridge, Vt.
But if Vermont wants to limit how much water the company takes, it may run afoul of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
States around the country are growing increasingly worried about the threats posed to their laws and regulations by the secret tribunals that resolve disputes in international trade. Experts say everything from environmental rules to the licensing of nurses and other professionals could be affected.
"Free trade agreements are to state sovereignty and economic development what global climate change is to the environment and natural resources," said state Sen. Virginia Lyons, D-Chittenden. "I think it's a really significant issue for our state, and for every state in the country."
Vermont is one of seven states to establish committees to study the possible impacts of international trade on their laws.
Assistant Vermont Attorney General Elliot Burg said NAFTA and other trade agreements have opened up a path for international companies that want to circumvent state laws they don't like.
Read the full story here. I delved into this issue in a recent nationally syndicated column, and how the issue is playing out on the series of proposed NAFTA expansions that Congress is currently considering. The Progressive States Network is working on legislative ways for states to fight back.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
This isn't new, CA had a similar fight with Canadian firms selling a cancerous and very toxic gasoline additive MTBE. CA wanted to ban it because it was polluting our ground water supply. But the Canadian outfit used NAFTA to fight the ban, CA won in the end but they had to fight to do it.
Vermont will have to do the same or call NAFTA's bluff. Look the treaty is patently illegal since it overrides both state and federal laws and Congress as well. They are well within their rights to tell the Canadians to go fuck themselves.
Besides what are the Feds going to do, use the FBI and Army goons to enforce NAFTA rules? The military may be up to it, but the public will go batshit crazy on congress if they do it. Congress could kiss its ass goodbye.
From RAYGUN to KILLTON to Bush, from US-Canada FT in 1985 to NAFTA in 1993 to more NAFTAs and CAFTAs this decade, it's hard to say that there's anything so new about these scams. Back in 1985, the northeast and the upper midwest had the most to lose from the US-Canada FT 1985 scam but no one listened and it only kept snowballing into NAFTA, CAFTA, China PNTR, and more NAFTA expansion. The trouble in this country is VT gets labelled by both parties as "commie" for opposing NAFTA. Well, if that's the case, so be it because we love our socialist Senator Bernard Sanders better than the Ds and Rs any fucking day !
Grant, back in the 1980s, CA could care less that RAYGUN was killing the Canadian-bordering states' economies or for that matter his amnesty for millions of illegals. If Tancredo cared to show some honesty, he would first pound RAYGUN and KILLTON for amnesty and "free" trade and say "I have a different direction to offer this country for the better." Of course, the fact that Tancredo knowingly uses illegal labor rather than hire real Americans shows his sheer hypocrisy. But don't worry, the so-called "nativists" are too fucked up to pay attention to who's really doing what anyway !
Whats so particularly worrisome about foreign corporate entities being able to usurp the laws in our own country is that there is not one peep from the political activist class such as liberals and progressives.
And no, I don't expect the Democratic Congress to say squat given their support for job killing free trade treaties. They are more likely than not to cede national sovereignty to extra-national corporate entities that to stop it. After all has anyone ever seen a Democratic pol fight for the people of this country? I sure haven't.
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