October, 01 2018, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer,(613) 233-4487, ext. 249, dpenner@canadians.org
NAFTA 2.0 Curtails Chapter 11, But Doesn't Meet Smell Test
WASHINGTON
In response to the new NAFTA deal revealed last night, now called the USMCA free trade agreement, the Council of Canadians says that while Chapter 11 (the investor state dispute settlement provision) has changed, the agreement is still far away from a deal that protects people and the environment.
"This is a major victory for the many groups and individuals who sounded the alarm on how these dangerous provisions affect our ability to protect the public interest and the environment. Our movement should be very proud. But as always, we should be vigilant about the rest of the agreement, which was hatched in order to erase rules, and help out big business," says Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians.
Chapter 11, the investor state dispute mechanism that allows corporations to sue states, has been reportedly removed. Also, energy proportionality, the provision which guarantees an amount of Canadian exports to the U.S, is no longer there. The cultural exemption from NAFTA 1.0 also stays in the agreement.
But, farmers have been once again sacrificed in the deal, taking another 3.25 per cent hit in terms of products that can come into Canada. Combined with the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), we are moving towards a factory farm vision for Canadian agriculture. And while energy proportionality has been removed, it has been replaced with provisions which accelerate pipeline approvals.
"Once again, the farmers have taken the first hit," says Barlow. "After CETA, the CPTPP, and now NAFTA, we are sure that we won't be getting fresh, local, hormone-free milk. They are on the front lines of all of our trade agreements. But, it is not just them. NAFTA 2.0 may affect our ability to regulate pipelines, keep our drug prices down, and successfully protect our data and the financial system will be affected in the long term. We will be reviewing these provisions in the final deal."
The Council of Canadians reminds people that this is not a done deal. The U.S. Congress, Mexican Senate, and Canadian Parliament still have to ratify the agreement. The uncertainty around the U.S. Congress will be an extremely hard hurdle.
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada's leading social action organization, mobilizing a network of 60 chapters across the country.
Office: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249LATEST NEWS
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The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Portland, Oregon by the top law enforcement officials of 20 states—including New York, California, Maine, and Hawaii—and the District of Columbia. The suit notes that Vought, in his capacity as acting director of the consumer bureau, "has worked tirelessly to terminate the CFPB’s operations by any means necessary—denying plaintiffs access to CFPB resources to which they are statutorily entitled."
The attorneys general specifically challenge Vought's "unlawful" refusal to request CFPB funding from the Federal Reserve. Under the law that established the consumer bureau, the agency receives funding from the Fed rather than congressional appropriations.
Vought has advanced a tortured definition of "earnings" to argue the Fed lacks funds from which the CFPB can draw, leaving him with no choice but to allow the agency he and his far-right allies have long opposed to languish.
The new lawsuit argues that Vought's position violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the US Constitution. If allowed to stand, Vought's refusal to seek CFPB funds would "make it all but certain that the CFPB will run out of funding completely in January 2026."
California Attorney General Bonta said in a statement Monday that the Trump administration’s "latest effort to destroy the CFPB means that hundreds of thousands of consumer complaints will fall on deaf ears."
"By refusing to fund the CFPB, even when legal and appropriate funding mechanisms are available, the Trump administration has sharpened its message that it does not care about affordability, that it does not care to be on the side of families and working Americans," said Bonta.
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Since taking control of the CFPB earlier this year, Vought has effectively shut down bureau operations and signaled a lax approach to enforcement.
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Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) began their joint statement by thanking the panels' respective chairs, Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), "for their good-faith efforts to negotiate a permitting reform bill that would have lowered electricity prices for all Americans."
"There was a deal to be had that would have taken politics out of permitting, made the process faster and more efficient, and streamlined grid infrastructure improvements nationwide," the Democrats said. "But any deal would have to be administered by the Trump administration. Its reckless and vindictive assault on wind energy doesn't just undermine one of our cheapest, cleanest power sources, it wrecks the trust needed with the executive branch for bipartisan permitting reform."
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"It's hard to see the difference between these new alleged radar-related national security concerns and the radar-related national security allegations the Trump administration lost in court, a position so weak that they declined to appeal their defeat," he said.
This looks more like the kind of vindictive harassment we have come to expect from the Trump administration than anything legitimate.
— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (@whitehouse.senate.gov) December 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Later, he and Heinrich said that "by sabotaging US energy innovation and killing American jobs, the Trump administration has made clear that it is not interested in permitting reform. It will own the higher electricity prices, increasingly decrepit infrastructure, and loss of competitiveness that result from its reckless policies."
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Lee responded on social media with a gif:
Although the GOP has majorities in both chambers of Congress, Republicans don't have enough senators to get most bills to a final vote without Democratic support.
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