DeLauro Calls on Trump to Drop Border Wall as Part of NAFTA Renegotiations

WASHINGTON, DC (January 6, 2017) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to include demands that Mexico pay for his planned border wall as part of his efforts to renegotiate NAFTA. Trump’s latest plans follow his comments on Thursday, where he noted that the U.S. would be on the hook to pay for his wall and would later receive a reimbursement from Mexico, a statement that is in direct contradiction to his earlier campaign promises.

“With just two weeks until he is sworn into office, it is more clear than ever that President-elect Trump has no concrete plans on how to fund his ‘wall’ along the U.S.-Mexico border. Not only has he misled the American people by promising that Mexico would pay for the wall, he is now sticking taxpayers with a huge bill and potentially setting the NAFTA talks up to fail.

“Should Mr. Trump truly be interested in renegotiating NAFTA, he should follow the recommendations that I outlined in a letter I sent to him earlier this week. The American people are concerned about creating jobs, growing wages, and boosting the economy, not his wall. Mr. Trump should include language in a renegotiated agreement that eliminates carve outs for corporate interests and NAFTA’s job offshoring incentives, while also stops currency manipulation and includes fully enforceable labor and environmental standards.                                      

“Rather than focus on a wall that only stands to divide us, Mr. Trump should work to strengthen our nation’s infrastructure. With crumbling roads and bridges, decrepit airports and railways, and drinking water systems that are poisoning children across the U.S., Mr. Trump should use any additional revenue to rebuild our infrastructure. We must create good-paying, middle class jobs that cannot be outsourced, and Mr. Trump has an opportunity to do so by building a 21st Century economy, not a wall.”

Earlier this week, DeLauro wrote to President-elect Trump asking him to renegotiate NAFTA to produce an agreement that will create American jobs, grow wages, and serve the public interest. DeLauro has long been a leader on trade in Congress, having worked to defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership and rebuild an American economy that works for everyone.

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