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The NAFTA Agreement Replacement Isn’t Better- It’s Worse- Way Worse!

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The NAFTA Agreement Replacement Isn’t Better- It’s Worse- Way Worse!

All along, I have applauded Donald Trump’s attempts to “drain the swamp”, and reduce regulatory control over business and, in turn, people. However, I am also better informed than most on this trade issue, a fiscal conservative and anti-Federal Reserve. I have a more than passing interest in these supposedly “free” trade agreements.

I think Donald is digging himself a big hole which is putting him in line to take the rap for all of the enormously bad decisions and actions that have led our nation to become the largest debtor nation in the world.

As Peter Schiff notes in a recent presentation, Trump is taking credit for the economy being “fixed” after his less than two years in office. In fact, the underlying economic issues of excessive debt have not been changed at all.

This economy is still at risk. It could implode during his term(s). It that does come to be, guess who the Marxist inspired Democrats will pin ALL of the blame on- taking them off the hook?

The New NAFTA 2.0

Case in point, this new NAFTA trade agreement. Trump is touting improvement and how he “fixed” NAFTA. Unfortunately, from what I have discovered, this new agreement is far from an improvement. It is truly a disappointing development and worse, not better. It is more like NAFTA on steroids or NAFTA 2.0 than a repair and/or replacement of NAFTA.

To my way of thinking, along with the lack of reduction in our national debt which I personally feel is a product the biggest problem we have- the Federal Reserve cartel, these “free trade” agreements are another important correction that needs to be made and has not been.

Our Constitutional Trade Sovereignty

The worst aspect of NAFTA and any of these so-called “free trade” agreements is that it transfers our federal Constitutionally granted authority made by the states to permit the federal government to govern our national trade- over to the United Nations. In truth, it directly undermines our sovereign authority to trade not only between the states but internationally as well.

Our Constitution clearly states in Article 1, Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power to….regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States,

This specifically grants the federal government the authority to govern trade between the States and with foreign nations.

One of the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, and one of the big reasons that the stealthily conceived Constitution was ratified was on the issue of trade. A weakness of our fledgling nation was an inability to negotiate as a unified bloc with foreign nations. You know, the united we stand- divided we fall meme. Article 1, Section 8 gave the states that power under the federal government. This was a good thing for a nation just developing its international commerce relationships. It still is.

Under these mislabeled “free trade” agreements that sovereign power, granted by the states to the federal government, disappears.

You can see this in the Preamble of NAFTA which says:

BUILD on their respective rights and obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other multilateral and bilateral instruments of cooperation

In other words, under the NAFTA agreement GATT (which is an agreement tied to the WTO, an agency of the UN) becomes to the 3 nations involved in the NAFTA agreement, the sovereign for the nations participating in the agreement. Their “respective rights and obligations” under NAFTA now place them under GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which was transformed into the WTO in 1995. This has not changed under the new agreement.

All of these so-called “free trade” agreements are laden with regulatory control which has now been transferred to the UN. They are simply instruments used by the globalist elite to create their New World Order a step at a time by using “free trade” agreements to build regulatory control over as many aspects of the countries involved (if not all) as possible.

In fact, the new agreement is simply NAFTA 2.0 with even more pages of regulations and in place of the 22 chapters of NAFTA. Now, there are now 34 chapters which total out to 1,809 pages. This is not improvement. It is just more deception and tom foolery still keeping the UN agency of the WTO as the sovereign. NAFTA was already a whopping 1,700 pages long. This is even longer.

According to a clearly written article in The New American, the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement- a worse name as well btw), the new agreement includes chapters on:

Labor
Environment
Anti-corruption
Regulatory Policy
Competitiveness
Mexico’s exclusive ownership of gas and natural gas resources, among others

The agreement life is 16 years, after which it can be agreeably renewed. However, every 6 years they can re-visit the agreement and decide to renew or make changes. If even one of the heads of the nations involved desires to remain, the agreement will stay in place. A country can withdraw and the agreement will remain as noted by Article 34.6 of the agreement.

The Power Given to the UN

As noted in the New American and the agreement itself, which I reproduce here because it is important and well stated. Please read this carefully because it is important to understanding this agreement:

Chapter I– Initial Provisions and General Definitions

Article 1.1. Establishment of a Free Trade Area

The Parties, consistent with Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 and Article V of the
GATS, hereby establish a free trade area.

Article 1.2: Relation to Other Agreements

Each Party affirms its existing rights and obligations with respect to each other under the WTO Agreement and other agreements to which it and another Party are party.

It is important to note the provisions of these articles. First of all, the free trade agreement establishes a “free trade area“. There is a difference between an agreement of exchange and the establishment of an “area” of trade.

I can trade something to someone without giving them any authority over my property (although we do get suckered into that in a number of ways). We trade goods. On the other hand, we live in an area. The first red flag in my book.

Secondly, this agreement clearly in Article 1.2 surrenders our national Constitutional right to govern our trade to the WTO which while it claims not be a UN specialized agency, it is listed as a “Related Organization” on their system chart. Additionally, the WTO itself notes that “it has maintained strong relations with the UN and its agencies since its establishment”.

Additionally, the WTO notes that it’s Chief Executive Board (CEB) brings together executive heads from various UN bodies and “serves as the main instrument for executive heads to coordinate their actions and policies” to promote coherence within the UN system.

Submission to International Authority

Consistent with other globalist schemes, the USMCA follows the “rules-based system” of compliance to international authorities such as the World Trade Organization, International Labor Organization, a plethora of United Nations conventions including the Law of Sea treaty, and the furtherance of “sustainable development,” which is mentioned no less than six times in the environment chapter.

One example of the USMCA’s complete subordination to international authority can be found in Article 24.18 of the new environment chapter, regarding fisheries, which states in part:

3. Each Party shall base its fisheries management system on the best scientific evidence available and on internationally recognized best practices for fisheries management and conservation as reflected in the relevant provisions of international instruments aimed at ensuring the sustainable use and conservation of marine species.

(Note: the words in bold emphasize the recognition of the UN as sovereign in this agreement.)

The footnote below for that section defines what exactly those “international instruments” are, stating:

These instruments include, among others, and as they may apply, United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, done at New York, December 4, 1995 (UN Fish Stocks Agreement), the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the 1993 FAO Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas (Compliance Agreement), done at Rome, November 24, 1993, the 2001 FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU Fishing), and the 2009 Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate IUU Fishing.

Do you see all the sovereignty yielding aspects to this “fix” of NAFTA to the UN? Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (huge internationalists) were big on both the UN and the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Now, Donald Trump is walking right into the internationalists trap and handing over our sovereignty to the internationalists, just like Obama and Hillary did along with both Bushes, Bill Clinton, Nixon, Carter and on back to Harry Truman.

International Committees

The USMCA actually is a what the New American calls, a “bold step toward a potential North American Union”. It establishes a new governing international bureaucracy with the creation of a Free Trade Commission with a bevy of regional committees which require participation by all 3 nations. These committees are:

• Committee on Agricultural Trade,
• Committee on Rules of Origin and Origin Procedures,
• Committee on Textile and Apparel Trade Matters,
• Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee,
• Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade,
• Committee on Government Procurement,
• Committee on Transportation Services,
• Committee on Financial Services,
• Committee on Telecommunications,
• Committee on Intellectual Property Rights,
• Committee on State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies,
• Environment Committee,
• Committee on SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Issues,
• North American Competitiveness Committee,
• Committee on Good Regulatory Practices, and an
• Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes

These committees will meet regularly, at least annually, and can suggest changes in the agreement without the consent of our Congress.

This fact alone undermines Congress’ Constitutionally granted authority to regulate trade under Article 1, Section 8 as noted above.

Competitiveness Committee- Step Towards World Government

The North American Competitiveness Committee is very revealing as to the intent of this agreement. All 3 nations agree to establish this committee with “a view to promoting further economic integration among the Parties and enhancing the competitiveness of North American exports.”

In other words, the committee’s objective is not to make the U.S., Mexico or Canada more competitive with each other, but rather more competitive with the rest of the world! This is truly unsettling for any true conservative who at least wishes to start with the limits of the original intent of our Constitution.

Here’s an insight which I don’t particularly like to share but in the interests of truth must which the New American article makes:

Rather than putting “America first,” as President Trump has repeatedly promised, or to “Make America Great Again,” his new NAFTA, the USMCA, demotes the United States to second tier in pursuit of making North America great. The USMCA makes North America great at the expense of the United States and its national sovereignty.

Under this scheme, the United States will be required to surrender its sovereignty in order for a chance to be a member of the winning team. Americans have been lied to and duped by their government into believing that their elected leaders are working in their interest, only to subordinate America’s interests to those of North America.

Disturbing To Me

Donald Trump has been a refreshing change to me after the 8 year Marxist march of Obama and his crew of sell outs to the New World Order. I am sincerely disappointed in this new “replacement” of NAFTA. I expected more of Donald Trump than this kind of deception. As the New American notes in its final point:

Far from making America great again, the USMCA is a bag of goodies for globalists and a death certificate for American national sovereignty.

For more information on the North American Union click here.

For the text of the new USMCA click here.

One Last Point

This is truly disappointing. I think Donald Trump is unknowingly setting himself up for taking the fall for all of the Marxist socialist schemes which have already been put in place to take this nation down and fold it into their coveted “New World Order“.

When this house of cards collapses, as it inevitably will, they will all gleefully point their fingers at him following that up with their far left Marxist solutions to fix the problem they have, in fact, created.

He is keeps saying we keep winning. Creating ever more national debt and agreements like this, is far from a win. This agreement plays right into the hands of the New World Order.

What ticks me off is that his braggadocio is letting those cockroaches off the hook instead of placing the blame where it rightfully belongs.

They will come out smelling like roses and blame conservatives for their failed policies which have created more debt than ever before in the history of the world. Better get the word out than take the hit IMHO.