WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ahead of a meeting this week between U.S. Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai and her Mexican and Canadian counterparts to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and a meeting next week between President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López on a set of issues including on climate, Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, issued the following statement.
“The second anniversary of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is the perfect opportunity for the U.S., Canada and Mexico to commit to protecting each other’s climate policies from trade attacks.
“The U.S., Mexico and Canada should announce a Climate Peace Clause to ensure that outdated trade rules don’t get in the way of President Biden’s climate agenda or hinder the ability of North America to transition to clean energy economies on the timescale needed to avoid climate catastrophe. Such a clause is a commitment by countries to refrain from using the USMCA or other trade or investment rules to challenge policies designed to help countries meet their commitments under the Paris climate agreement.
“Further, the three nations should announce plans to finish the job of eliminating the USMCA’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system altogether. While significant progress was made in the earlier renegotiation to eliminate ISDS’ threats to U.S. climate measures, that progress should be extended to fully protect climate and other public interest policies across the continent.”
For more information on a Climate Peace Clause, see a discussion paper here.