Update and Legislation

This piece updates the status of Goran Pavic, the trucker Customs and Border Protection arrested on an Interpol warrant for war crimes in Croatia. He remains in custody in Detroit although the magistrate on the case seems to be questioning the arrest.

Rep. Nancy Boyda of Kansas announced that she plans to introduce the NAFTA Accountability Act this week. The bill contains five conditions for continued U.S. participation in NAFTA. Those conditions and the U.S. party responsible for the determination are:

  • Gains in U.S. jobs and living standards (by the Secretary of Labor)
  • Increased U.S. domestic manufacturing (by the Secretary of Commerce)
  • Improved health and environmental standards, with respect to food imports and to U.S.-Mexico border areas (by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency)
  • Reduced flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada (by the Attorney General)
  • Mexican democracy and human freedoms (by the President)

As best I can tell from this summary, the point of the bill is to punish U.S. consumers (including manufacturing companies), U.S. exporters, Mexico, and Canada if the U.S. does not experience an improved standard of living and increased domestic manufacturing. Somehow, I missed those parts of NAFTA that control business cycles, imprudent mortgage lenders, business conditions in China and India, the price of fuel, health care expenses, and a million other variables that make up the economy.

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