Equal Exchange joins a large number of organizations who are asking President-elect Obama to re-negotiate our trade agreements to ensure that all trade is fair trade, putting people and the planet over profits.
Press Release
For Immediate Release
January 5, 2009
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Nearly 60 organizations and networks sent a letter to President-elect Obama urging him to follow through on his campaign pledge to renegotiate NAFTA as a first step towards crafting an alternative trade model that puts people and the environment first over the profits of global corporations.
“Our letter outlines the areas we think need the most urgent attention,” said Tom Loudon of the Quixote Center. “Based on many years of work, we have identified ten priority areas: agriculture, energy, foreign investment, financial services, the role of the State in the provision of services, employment, migration, environment, intellectual property rights and dispute settlement provisions.”
“To be effective, any new approach to trade must take into account that agriculture and food are unique and should not fall under the same trade rules as TV sets,” said Dennis Olson of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). “Countries must have the policy flexibility to address the current global food crisis.”
Earlier this year, many of us were part of a three country effort which drafted a policy proposal entitled “NAFTA Must be Renegotiated; A Proposal from North America Civil Society Networks,” Loudon continued. “We envision new relationships between our countries that establish economic relations based on social justice within a paradigm of sustainable development.”
Small Farmers. Big Change. 