[NYTr] As Peru Trade Pact Signed, Opponents Pledge to Monitor Outcomes

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Public Citizen - Dec 14, 2007
http://www.citizen.org

Dec. 14, 2007

As Pact is Signed, Diverse Opponents of Peru NAFTA Expansion Pledge to
Monitor Outcomes, Hold Proponents Accountable

Statement of Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade
Watch Division

Today's signing of a NAFTA expansion pushed by U.S. oil, gas and other
large corporations but opposed uniformly by Peru's unions, farmers,
indigenous peoples and faith leaders, including Catholic Archbishop
Pedro Barreto, will further damage U.S. relations in Latin America,
where the devastating outcomes of similar agreements are fueling
anti-American sentiment.

The spectacle of another NAFTA expansion agreement is an insult to
Americans' demands for a new trade policy made vivid in the 2006
midterm elections, where candidates nationwide won by campaigning
against more-of-the-same NAFTA deals.

We will carefully track the outcomes of this NAFTA expansion agreement
so those who supported it are held responsible for the damage it will
cause. The Peru trade deal includes the same NAFTA agriculture rules
that displaced 1.3 million Mexican farmers, dramatically increased
hunger and immigration to the United States, and caused economic and
political instability. It also includes investment protections that
will empower big oil and gas corporations to ravage Peru's pristine
Amazon region.

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