Videos: NAFTA Supports U.S. Jobs, Security

Mark Green
Posted May 3, 2018

More on NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – which U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators are working to modernize.

Critically important to U.S. interests in any NAFTA 2.0 is keeping investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) protections in the deal so that American investments and American property are protected against unfair treatment by host nation governments. ISDS is fundamental to this, which supports continuing U.S. investment in natural gas and oil projects outside this country. That, in turn, is fundamental to U.S. energy and national security.

A couple of new videos underscore those points. The first one focuses on the significance of protecting U.S. investments abroad:

The whiteboard video below explains why NAFTA is important to U.S. jobs and energy security:

We’ll keep saying it: NAFTA has been good for U.S. energy. Canada and Mexico serve as top suppliers of crude oil and also as top export destinations for U.S. refined products such as motor gasoline, kerosene-type jet fuel and other commodities. An integrated North American energy zone, fostered by NAFTA, has benefited consumers in all three countries. As NAFTA 2.0 negotiations near an end, the revised agreement should continue strong support for U.S. energy.

That’s the message in a letter to President Trump and other administration officials sent this week by API, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – each urging that NAFTA’s ISDS provision be retained. From the letter:

NAFTA’s current investment protections and ISDS support American jobs at home and protect U.S. businesses from discrimination abroad. ISDS upholds the same fundamental due process and private property guarantees protected by our Constitution, and it obligates other countries to uphold these precepts as well. When the U.S. protects and promotes our companies’ investments in Canada and Mexico, we support and generate jobs at home. Moving forward with a revised NAFTA that does not include such protections for U.S. businesses would threaten our economy and endanger the prospects for NAFTA 2.0 to be approved in Congress.

Again, this key ISDS provision is about fair business practices, respect for contracts and ensuring that U.S. companies have recourse if they’re mistreated. As the letter above indicates, the goal of revising NAFTA in the right way is shared across the breadth of the U.S. business community, from energy to manufacturing to Main Street companies. Keeping ISDS in NAFTA is at the heart of that goal.