U.S. official: White House plans no changes to NAFTA

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U.S. official: White House plans no changes to NAFTA
By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 05/08/2009 03:57:50 PM MDT

EL PASO -- The White House is reviewing the North American Free Trade Agreement, but there is no indication yet that it or parts of it will be renegotiated, said Kent Shigetomi, an U.S. trade official, at the University of Texas at El Paso.

The U.S. government is not shrinking back from trade, because "the truth is, we need to expand trade to grow our economy," and with other regions in the world in addition to Mexico and Canada, said Shigetomi, director of the Office of Mexico, NAFTA and the Caribbean Affairs, of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington.

The official was Friday's keynote speaker for the two-day Symposium on Hemispheric Integration and Global Competitiveness that ends today.


NAFTA, a 15-year trade accord designed to ease trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico, ended tariffs or import taxes on schedule or ahead of the timetable for industries in the three countries.

Other speakers at the conference included representatives from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Border Trade Alliance and the maquiladora industry.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12328056

This guy must be joking.

[masuki bance]

1. kick