UAW Legislative Director Offers To Testify Before NAFTA Renegotiation

The United Auto Workers union was one of 557 parties that submitted comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative over the pending North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation, reports the Detroit Free Press. In a letter, UAW Legislative Director Josh Nassar requested to testify before the trade office on June 27^th, when it holds a public hearing on how to improve NAFTA.

“Since NAFTA, our trade surplus with Mexico has vanished and hundreds of thousands of US jobs have been lost. Most of these job losses have been in manufacturing,” Nassar’s letter read in part. “In my testimony, I will discuss substantial changes needed in the agreement to make it a good deal for working people in all three countries and to put an end to the outsourcing of U.S. jobs. I will also talk about how U.S. manufacturing and the communities that depended on these well-paying jobs have been decimated.”

Ford Motor Company has its own concerns with regard to renegotiating NAFTA. Joe Hinrichs, then-President of the Americas, said earlier this year that securing protections against currency manipulation and adopting common road homologation standards were important must-haves for any future deal.