Nafta Trade Talks Likely To Stall: Analysis

Mass demonstrations The mood is very different from the early years of the Bush administration, when the president journeyed to Quebec to push for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, stretching from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and rivalling the EU in size. NAFTA FACTS Started in 1994 Allows free trade between US, Canada and Mexico Trade between partners grew at over 10% per year Side agreements regulate environment, labour Critics say 1m US manufacturing jobs were lost But now the pressure is on Nafta, which accounts for $700bn in cross-border trade and investment, and which Mr Bush has made the cornerstone of a Security and Prosperity Partnership with his two Nafta partners. Thousands of anti-globalisation protesters are expected to converge on the summit at the weekend, although the police have established a 25km security cordon around the site. Union worries All the Democratic presidential candidates condemned the Nafta trade deal as unfair to workers at a rally last week organised by the US trade union federation, the AFL-CIO. Nafta and the way it has been implemented has hurt a lot of US workers Senator Hillary Clinton Even Hillary Clinton, whose husband Bill Clinton played a key role in getting Congress to pass the Nafta deal in 1993, expressed scepticism about whether US workers benefited from free trade deals. "Nafta and the way it has been implemented has hurt a lot of US workers. So clearly we have to have a broad reform in how we approach trade," she told 17,000 union workers at Soldiers Field in Chicago. Full story at BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6940189.stm Published: 2007/08/18 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 20, 2007]

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