White House defends NAFTA: 'There's nothing broken'

By Terence Hunt

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:44 a.m. April 18, 2008

WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday vigorously defended the 14-year-old free-trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada against sharp criticism from Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

“There's nothing broken. Why fix it?” said Dan Fisk, senior director of Western hemisphere affairs for National Security Council. He acknowledged the administration must do a better job of explaining the benefits of the agreement.

Both Clinton and Obama have threatened to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement to pressure Canada and Mexico to negotiate more protections for workers and the environment in the agreement. The accord has removed most barriers to trade and investment among the three countries.

NAFTA will be a major topic when President Bush joins Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderón in New Orleans on Monday and Tuesday for his fourth and final North American Leaders' Summit.