[greenyes] Fallout from NAFTA Trade Practices

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

Canadians want U.S. to pay for beef ban

By Alwyn Scott
Seattle Times business reporter


Call it the stampede from up north.

Under an obscure provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement 
(NAFTA), Canadian cattlemen are asking the U.S. government to pay hundreds 
of millions of dollars to cover losses they incurred when the border was 
closed to Canadian beef after mad-cow disease turned up in Alberta.

With the ban set to be lifted early next month, the case spotlights NAFTA's 
little-known Chapter 11, which allows companies to claim damages from 
governments if their laws or actions damage trading partners.

About 500 cattlemen, mostly from the province of Alberta, have filed 121 
claims under NAFTA seeking at least $325 million in compensation from U.S. 
taxpayers for the May 2003 decision to halt imports of Canadian beef and 
cattle, their lawyer said.

NAFTA critics say the mad-cow case shows how the rules increasingly are 
being used to let foreign companies override national or state laws. Big 
awards, they say, could frighten lawmakers into watering down or avoiding 
safeguards. In one case in Mississippi, a NAFTA panel used the rules to 
overturn a jury verdict.

"Foreign investors are empowered under Chapter 11 to sue us for cash 
compensation over laws that affect their profits, when in fact our own 
corporations wouldn't have that right," said Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds. 
"That bothers me a lot - especially if we pass laws protecting health or the 
environment."

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_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Ph: (608) 231-1100
Fax: (608) 233-0011
Cell: (608) 698-1314
eMail: anderson@no.address
web: www.recycleworlds.net

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