Letter to the Hon. Donald Trump, President of the United States - Raskin Urges President Trump to Prioritize Climate in Renegotiated NAFTA

Letter

Mr. President:

As we work to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), we have an opportunity to transcend partisan gridlock and outdated ideologies by addressing global challenges in a new way. To protect our communities, a renegotiated NAFTA should meaningfully address climate change -- one of the most pressing challenges we face. This will require fundamental changes to the current deal on the table, which would undercut our climate goals by helping corporations shift climate pollution across borders, increase fossil fuel dependency, and challenge climate policies. To remove these climate threats and support workers and communities, the renegotiated NAFTA deal should include binding climate standards and be paired with a decision for the United States to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement.

These changes are essential to tackle one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. It is laughable that we are now the only country in the world working to isolate ourselves from the critical and commonsense principles of the Paris Agreement. Our constituents and communities are already feeling the negative impacts of our changing climate. Sea level rise, increasingly frequent natural disasters, and extreme weather events are disrupting lives, causing economic hardship, and increasing financial pressure at all levels of government. We need to stand with our neighbors in Canada and Mexico as members of the Paris Agreement, and we need a North American trade deal that reinforces -- not undermines -- that agreement.

If we fail to address climate change in a wise and strategic manner, threats to our national security and long-term economic growth and prosperity will only escalate over the coming decades. According to the administration's own 2018 National Climate Assessment, unabated global warming will contract the U.S. economy by 10 percent by the year 2100, and the United Nations estimates that costs to the global economy will reach $54 trillion -- more than half of today's global gross domestic product. To support American economic security and prosperity, a renegotiated NAFTA should include binding climate standards and be paired with a commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Though climate is not the only issue that must be addressed in a renegotiated NAFTA, it is a major issue that must be addressed. The passage of H.R.9, the Climate Action Now Act, earlier this year demonstrated our commitment to remaining in the Paris Agreement and established it as a top priority. Given the urgency and scale of the transformation needed to address these threats to American prosperity, we urge the administration to seize this moment to advance progress across multiple fronts. Future generations will thank us for it.

Sincerely,