Bush, Calderon, Harper Reject Renegotiating Nafta

[seafan]

Source: Bloomberg

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the accord fosters growth.

Nafta ``was a visionary move by previous leaders that's benefited all three of our countries,'' Bush said at a joint press conference with Calderon and Harper at the close of a two- day summit in New Orleans today. ``Now is not the time to renegotiate Nafta or to walk away from Nafta.''

.....

Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton say that agreements such as Nafta and a pending accord with Colombia undermine U.S. workers and need to be renegotiated.
As president, Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton, pushed the agreement through Congress. Obama, an Illinois senator, said that he has always opposed Nafta and suggests that Clinton, a New York senator, became disenchanted only as part of the election campaign.

.....

``If you do away with Nafta, there are going to be more Mexicans out of work,'' Bush said. ``People who say do away with Nafta, because it's a throwaway political line,'' should remember that the deal has benefited Mexico, he said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aCTGaxEKLgRA&refer=us

[elehhhhna]

1. nOW HE CARES ABOUT mEXICAN EMPLOYMENT? lol

[SpiralHawk]

4. "And it's good for Homelander cronies, also. Too bad about you Americans." - Commander AWOL

"Smirk."

- Commander AWOL

[islandmkl]

2. did they have an "American" cake to cut up for dessert....

they deserve the same fate....

[Spazito]

3. harper has his own problems to worry about....

he has a major investigation going on into his party's illegal actions during the last election. I have no doubt he is a happy camper being out of the country right now. NAFTA, re-negotiated or not, is the least of his problems and he may not be around long enough to do anything about anything.

[Lautremont]

5. From your lips to the Canadian voter's ears...

At the very least this scandal has Layton trashing Harper rather than the (admittedly very trashable) Dion.

[Spazito]

6. It's past time for the Opposition, all the opposition to throw these

POS creeps out, imo. It can't happen soon enough for me, that's for sure.

[JDPriestly]

7. So why are so many Mexicans leaving their loved ones

to look for work here while so many Americans are un- and underemployed? There is something wrong with Bush's picture. He needs to get back in touch with what is really going on in America.

[VP505]

8. Bu$h has consistently demonstrated

that he couldn't care less about American workers and now I am to believe he cares about Mexican workers, ya, sure * whatever you say!

[ajamo]

10. Bush support Mexico not the United States

Why hasn't bush questioned the Mexican Government about why they don't support the United States in their efforts to fighting terrorist?
Mexico never in history supported the United States in any of it's wars. Why does Bush kiss their asses.

[Kolesar]

9. We can negotiate "side agreements" without discarding the current NAFTA treaty

If I recall correctly. We should have side agreements for environmental and labor standards. There should be funding to retrain displaced workers--like displaced Mexican farmers.