Will Dems Follow Through on Promises to Fix NAFTA?
Kudos are in order for the intrepid activists in Iowa and New Hampshire whose bird-dogging helped shift the presidential debate on free trade. Just one sign is that all three top Democratic contenders told the Iowa Fair Trade Coalition they would fix problems with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Even Hillary Clinton, whose husband rammed NAFTA through Congress 14 years ago, has vowed to “correct its shortcomings.” Since NAFTA has been the model for U.S. trade policies, reopening this pact could theoretically pave the way for a whole new approach that puts workers, the environment and communities above narrow corporate interests. The key question, of course, is how far would the Democrats be willing to go? For years now, economic justice activists have had to look to the Global South for bold political leadership on globalization. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva played the key role in deep-sixing a plan to expand NAFTA to the whole hemisphere. In 2005, he also tea
