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U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) held a town hall meeting at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn last night to discuss the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The timely event comes as the third round of negotiations formally begin in Canada on September 23^rd. The outcome of the negotiations will have major implications for Michigan families and the economy.

“Michigan is the heart and soul of the American auto industry, and for too long bad trade deals like NAFTA have devastated our region – hollowing out our manufacturing base and costing tens of thousands of jobs,” said Dingell. “We now have an opportunity to renegotiate this failed agreement in a way that levels the playing field for the American worker, and it is critical that we get it right. We must hold the Administration accountable to ensure that any new agreement reflects the voices of workers like those we heard from at the town hall and keeps the promises President Trump made during the campaign – to create jobs, raise wages and bring manufacturing back to this country. I will not stop working until we get a better deal for the people I represent.”

Dingell was joined by a diverse panel of labor leaders, advocacy groups and affected workers to discuss NAFTA’s harmful impact on Michigan families and needed reforms in any NAFTA replacement deal. Michigan ranks fourth in the nation in terms of NAFTA job losses. More than 60,000 Michigan jobs have been lost to trade since 2008. Since 2004, more than 910,000 American jobs have been certified as lost to NAFTA under just one narrow program, Trade Adjustment Assistant (TAA). Participants called for greater transparency in the NAFTA renegotiation process, stronger protections against currency manipulation and the elimination of NAFTA’s offshoring incentives and Buy American ban.

“Working people in Michigan have the skills to compete with anyone in the world, but we need a level playing field," said Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. "It's time to rewrite NAFTA the right way – making it easier to export Michigan products instead of Michigan jobs. That means negotiating a new trade agreement with strong labor protections and tough penalties when countries break the rules, and when corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes. We also need strong Buy American policies on the books to support job creation here at home. Leveling the playing field on trade will help working people in Michigan provide a better life for their families."

“Donald Trump is president because he promised voters in Michigan he would replace or terminate the trade agreements that are promoting the offshoring of more good jobs every week after wiping out a quarter of Michigan’s manufacturing jobs – more than 150,000 – since NAFTA,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “We want a NAFTA replacement we can support and that means eliminating NAFTA’s special investor rights for corporations that make it easier to offshore jobs, eliminating the ban on Buy American procurement preferences that offshore our tax dollars instead of reinvesting them to create jobs here, and adding rules that raise wages in Mexico.”

“More than twenty years of NAFTA has failed to bring the promised prosperity for working people,” said Sue Browne, rapid response coordinator for United Steelworkers. “Millions of manufacturing jobs and countless plants have closed because of a trade model which puts investors and corporate profits over the needs of families and Main Street. It’s time for a new direction that puts workers’ needs first."

Dingell was also joined at the event by AJ Freer, vice president of UAW Local 600; Jennifer Kelly, director of research at the UAW; and Adonis Flores, organizer for Michigan United.

Earlier this year, Dingell introduced a Blueprint for America’s New Trade Policy, a resolution outlining principles that must be included in any replacement of NAFTA, including adding strong, enforceable protections against currency manipulation. She also introduced legislation, the Promoting Transparency in Trade Act, to bring more transparency to trade talks by requiring the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to publicly release the text of trade deals prior to each negotiating round and to publish the considered text at the conclusion of each round. More information is available here.