NAFTA Serving Profit Motive, Not the Public

Re: “Groups Gear Up to Battle Hemispheric Pact” [March 25]. It is unacceptable that under the North American Free Trade Agreement a foreign corporation can sue a government for having a law restricting where a hazardous-waste plant can be located (the Metalclad Corp. case) or for restricting the use of the gasoline additive MTBE, which polluted water wells from Lake Tahoe to Santa Monica (the Methanex Corp. case).

NAFTA has transformed the ability of a foreign corporation to make the maximum amount of profit possible into a right protected by law. NAFTA has caused the U.S., Mexico and Canada to lose the power of their elected local, state and national representatives to enact laws protecting public health and safety. This is another insane result of allowing bought-off and paid-for politicians to negotiate our future.

MARY ALTMANN

Agoura

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If President Bush expects to gain fast-track authority with respect to NAFTA, he will have to address some important and legitimate concerns.

The American people may be willing to accept, with some reservations, that nongovernmental organizations are excluded from trade negotiations but NAFTA’s Chapter 11 pushes the envelope. And it may well push it beyond the tolerance of Americans. Chapter 11 contains provisions that threaten our sovereignty and our health in deference to the almighty dollar.

It extends an already controversial interpretation of property rights, to the right to profit. Your article mentions two examples: Methanex Corp., a Canadian company that seeks nearly $1 billion because California had the audacity to place a higher value on the health of its citizens than the profit of Methanex. Another example is Metalclad Corp. of Newport Beach. This time the victim is Mexico but the rationale is the same.

These decisions are made by a tribunal, whose members are not elected by the people and show little concern for anything but corporate profits.

It is not necessary to give up on the idea of free trade to correct these deficiencies. But they are deficiencies that need to be corrected. Congress should not grant fast track until they are.

RUDY VIETMEIER

Lakewood

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Most big business is interested only in the cheapest labor and doesn’t give a hoot about anything else. It doesn’t help the economy of Central America to have young people working at starvation wages without benefits and taking time away from education. If the benefiting businesses cared about the people, they would address this.

MARK HASKIN

Marina del Rey