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For Immediate Release
November, 03 2019, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Matthew Groch, (202) 454-5111, mgroch@citizen.org
NAFTA Deficit Jump Expected, Trade Data Release Tomorrow
WASHINGTON
Note: U.S. trade data for the first three quarters of 2019 will be released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday morning. The U.S.-NAFTA trade-in-goods deficit is likely to show a significant increase over the same period last year, continuing a trend that has made the NAFTA deficit higher during the Trump administration than during the Obama administration. (See background on data, below.)
Statement of Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch:
"The ever-increasing NAFTA deficit underscores the political liability for Trump of his year-long refusal to fix the USMCA deal he signed last year so it could become viable in Congress.
Unless Trump finally agrees to remove the giveaways for pharmaceutical firms he added to NAFTA that would lock in high medicine prices and strengthen anti-outsourcing provisions, no revised NAFTA will get through Congress.
Congressional Democrats have had the same message since Trump announced his revised NAFTA a year ago: They want to really fix NAFTA, which means strengthening the labor and environmental terms and their enforcement to counter NAFTA's original sin of race-to-the-bottom job outsourcing while not adding extra monopoly rights for Big Pharma that would lock in high medicine prices."
Background information on expected data trends:
The 2018 annual NAFTA-U.S. goods deficit of $218 billion represents an 11% increase over 2017 ($197 billion) and a 19% increase over 2016, President Barack Obama's last year. However, third quarter 2019 U.S.-world trade-in-goods deficit is likely to show a decrease relative to last year, although an increase relative to the last year of the Obama administration. The annual 2018 U.S. goods trade deficit with the world of $892 billion was larger than any year since the 2008-09 financial crisis - up 8% ($63 billion) over 2017 and up 14% ($108 billion) over 2016. The third quarter U.S.-China goods trade deficit also is likely to decrease. The U.S. goods trade deficit with China in 2018 was the largest ever recorded at $428 billion, up from $392 billion in 2017. This compares to $370 billion in 2016, Obama's last year. These figures are adjusted for inflation to the base month of September 2019 and thus represent real changes in trade balances expressed in constant dollars. As a result, for months prior to September 2019, the nominals are different than the data unadjusted for inflation that is provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
After Helping Convince Trump to Attack Iran, Kushner Solicits Billions for His Private Equity Firm
"While US servicemembers die in another forever war in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s 'peace envoy' is raising money for his private equity firm," wrote US Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Mar 16, 2026
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, is reportedly trying to entice governments in the Middle East to invest billions in his private equity firm while he simultaneously works as "a special envoy for peace"—a role he appears to have used to help convince Trump to wage war on Iran.
The New York Times reported late last week that Kushner "has spoken with potential investors in recent weeks about raising $5 billion or more for Affinity Partners, his investment firm."
Citing five unnamed people with knowledge of the talks, the Times reported that "Affinity’s representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund," Affinity's largest investor. Saudi Arabia's leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reportedly played a significant role in the behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign urging Trump to attack Iran—Saudi Arabia's top regional rival.
Bin Salman controls the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which pumped $2 billion into Kushner's firm in 2022.
"Mr. Kushner’s fundraising is expected to stretch on for the better part of this year," the Times added. "The efforts show the blurring of the lines between public service and private profit-seeking during Mr. Trump’s second term. Only a few weeks ago, in his role as Mr. Trump’s 'peace envoy,' Mr. Kushner met in Geneva with Iran’s foreign minister. The US and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran began shortly after those meetings concluded without a deal on Iran’s nuclear program."
Last week, Trump said he decided to attack Iran in coordination with Israel—whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is a personal friend of Kushner's—because the president "thought they were going to attack us," a view he claimed to have reached after listening to "what Steve [Witkoff] and Jared and Pete [Hegseth] and others were telling me."
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in response to the Times reporting that "while US servicemembers die in another forever war in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s 'peace envoy' is raising money for his private equity firm."
Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, wrote in a social media post on Sunday that a "fair and equitable deal" between the US and Iran "was within reach" before Trump and Netanyahu started bombing.
"Those providing poor advice to POTUS are responsible for bloodshed," Araghchi wrote, attaching a screenshot of the Times story on Kushner's fundraising efforts. "This war is imposed on both Americans and Iranians."
I've been told that family of a U.S. soldier killed in the war of choice on Iran is relying on public donations.
As fair and equitable deal was within reach, those providing poor advice to POTUS are responsible for bloodshed.
This war is imposed on both Americans and Iranians. pic.twitter.com/fR15XKjfYk
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 15, 2026
Judd Legum, founder and author of the Popular Information newsletter, noted last week that Kushner's participation in the Geneva diplomatic talks that preceded the US-Israeli assault on Iran "violated his pledge not to be involved in foreign policy in a second Trump administration."
On Monday, Legum observed that Kushner also said in December 2024 that his private equity firm would not "have to raise capital for the next four years," allowing him to "avoid any conflicts" of interest.
Trump formally named Kushner a "special envoy for peace" last month, a move that means the president's son-in-law is now required by law to file a financial disclosure report. Kushner has just days left before the 30-day deadline to file the disclosure.
Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote in a letter to the White House last week that "Mr. Kushner’s history of financial gains resulting from his time as a White House advisor during President Trump’s first term raises serious concerns about potential conflicts of interest that must be addressed before Mr. Kushner participates in any additional matters that may relate to his own financial interests or those of his investors."
"The risk of Mr. Kushner’s potential conflicts is particularly concerning because his private investment firm has very publicly done significant business with foreign partners who also have interests in the conflicts on which he has been assigned to work," Sherman noted.
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Amnesty Says US Must Be Held to Account for Bombing Iran School 'Packed Full of Children'
"This harrowing attack on a school, with classrooms full of children, is a sickening illustration of the catastrophic and entirely predictable price civilians are paying during this armed conflict."
Mar 16, 2026
Amnesty International on Monday published an investigation that found the United States violated international humanitarian law by failing to take measures to avoid harming civilians before bombing a girls' school in southern Iran last month and killing around 175 people, most of them children.
Evidence gathered by Amnesty "indicates that the school building was directly struck, alongside 12 other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound, with guided weapons," the group said. "This points to a failure by US forces to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm in carrying out the attack, which is a serious breach of international humanitarian law."
"The fact that the school building was directly targeted and was previously part of the IRGC compound raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence and failed in their obligation to do everything feasible to verify that the intended target was a military objective," Amnesty added.
NEW: Our in-depth investigation finds that US has violated international humanitarian law by failing to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm. US is responsible for deadly attack on school in #Minab packed full of children.
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— Amnesty International (@amnesty.org) March 16, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Satellite imagery analyses confirmed eyewitness accounts that the February 28 attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab was a "triple-tap" airstrike, in which an initial bombing was followed up with two additional strikes meant to kill survivors and rescue workers.
Fragments of a Tomahawk cruise missile found at the school and marked with the names of US weapons companies, a Pentagon contract number, and "Made in USA" added to the body of evidence pointing to the United States as the perpetrator of what numerous experts have called a likely war crime.
President Donald Trump, who initially blamed Iran for the attack, later said he is "willing to live with" whatever the military's investigation concludes.
"US authorities must ensure that the investigation they have announced is impartial, independent, and transparent," Amnesty said. "Investigations into the strike must consider the intelligence gathering and assessments, targeting decisions, and precautions taken, as well as how artificial intelligence may have been employed in each of these steps, to evaluate how targeting decisions were made. The results of the investigation should be made public."
Both the US and Israel have increasingly relied upon artificial intelligence systems to select bombing targets, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) having first used Gaza as what on expert called "a live-fire, live-ordnance lab experiment on people." Proponents of these systems note that they can select targets and approve strikes exponentially faster than humans, enabling more strikes, but critics warn such targeting methods are inherently more dangerous, pointing to higher error rates which translate to more civilian casualties and less accountability.
In the case of the Minab strike, Amnesty said, "Where sufficient evidence exists, competent authorities should prosecute any person suspected of criminal responsibility. Victims and their families have the right to truth and justice and should receive full reparation, including restitution, rehabilitation, and compensation for civilian harm."
Erika Guevara-Rosas—Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns—said in a statement Monday that “this harrowing attack on a school, with classrooms full of children, is a sickening illustration of the catastrophic and entirely predictable price civilians are paying during this armed conflict."
"Schools must be places of safety and learning for children," she said. "Instead, this school in Minab became a site of mass killing. The US authorities could, and should, have known it was a school building. Targeting a protected civilian object, such as a school, is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law."
"If the attackers failed to identify the building as a school and nevertheless proceeded with the attack, this would indicate gross negligence in the planning of the attack and would point to a shameful intelligence failure on the part of the US military and a serious violation of international humanitarian law," Guevara-Rosas continued.
"On the other hand," she said, "if the US was aware that the school was adjacent to the IRGC compound and proceeded to attack without taking all feasible precautions, such as striking at night when the school would have been empty, or giving effective advance warning to civilians likely to be affected, this would amount to recklessly launching an indiscriminate attack which killed and injured civilians and must be investigated as a war crime."
“For their part, Iranian authorities must immediately remove, to the extent feasible, civilians from the vicinity of military objectives and allow independent monitors into the country," Guevara-Rosas added. "They must also restore internet access to ensure that the 92 million people in Iran have access to life-saving information and be able to contact their loved ones.”
Amnesty joins other organizations—including the United Nations Human Rights Office, Human Rights Watch, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor—in urging accountability for the officials responsible for planning and executing the school strike.
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'Dark Day for California' as Oil Flows Through Pipeline Behind Major Spill After Trump War Order
One conservation campaigner said that "the cynical misuse of a national security law" for the oil company that owns the system and "has repeatedly broken the law is a shocking development, even from this administration."
Mar 16, 2026
As Sable Offshore Corp. on Monday confirmed that oil is flowing again thanks to a war-related order from President Donald Trump, the Center for Biological Diversity renewed warnings about reviving a pipeline that "caused one of California's largest oil spills on the Santa Barbara coast" over a decade ago.
"I'm distressed and saddened that California's coast now faces the threat of another oil disaster from this unsafe pipeline," said Brady Bradshaw, senior oceans campaigner at the center, a US nonprofit focused on conservation, in a statement.
"For the sake of the incredible Pacific Ocean and all of its wildlife, the community has worked so hard to make sure we'd never see oil flowing through this defective pipeline again," noted Bradshaw, whose group is involved in some related lawsuits.
Despite the various legal battles, with oil prices surging due to Trump's unlawful war on Iran, the president on Friday signed an executive order delegating certain authorities under the Defense Production Act to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who subsequently told Sable to restore operations of the Santa Ynez unit and pipeline system.
The unit has been shut down since May 2015, when the pipeline ruptured and spilled about 450,000 gallons of oil around Refugio State Beach, killing local animals and impacting beaches and fisheries. A federal investigation found that the pipeline failed due to corrosion. Still, Sable bought the unit from ExxonMobil in 2024, and has been trying to resume operations.
Last April, the Center for Biological Diversity and Wishtoyo Foundation sued the California Office of the State Fire Marshal for waiving safety rules for the pipeline. Julie Teel Simmonds, a senior attorney at the center, said at the time that "it is inexcusable to waive safety standards for an old, fatally flawed pipeline system that already failed catastrophically once."
"Exempting this pipeline from basic corrosion prevention requirements is a mindbogglingly shortsighted move that puts our incredible coastline at risk of yet another massive spill," the lawyer continued. "The State Fire Marshal pushed out these waivers without even taking a hard look at all the environmental and public safety risks, and our marine wildlife and coastal communities could wind up once again covered in toxic crude."
Just months later, in December, "the Trump administration moved to seize control of the pipeline system from the State Fire Marshal and issued Sable an emergency special permit that enables a restart despite the pipelines' design defects," the center noted Monday.
Then, under the cover of war, the president—who returned to office with help from Big Oil's campaign cash and promised to "drill, baby, drill"—and Wright took their latest steps to revive the flawed pipeline.
Sable said in a Monday statement that it "immediately complied" with the Trump administration's new orders and on Saturday began transporting oil produced at the unit through the pipeline system from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland Station. The company is planning for sales by April 1 at an expected gross oil rate of 50,000 barrels per day.
"This is a dark day for California, and I urge state officials to keep standing up to Trump's bullying," Bradshaw said Monday. "We'll keep fighting as hard as we can to protect Santa Barbara's coast and end offshore drilling in the state once and for all."
"The cynical misuse of a national security law for the benefit [of] an oil company that has repeatedly broken the law is a shocking development, even from this administration," added Bradshaw. "The courts shouldn't put up with this brazen abuse of power."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom—one of several Democrats expected to run for president in 2028—joined the center in criticizing the resumption and has also vowed to fight back.
"California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy," he said. "The Trump administration and Sable are defying multiple court orders, and we will see them back in court."
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