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Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement, in South Korea, of a free trade agreement between Canada and South Korea poses a serious threat to Canadian job security, says Unifor National President Jerry Dias.
"The problem is that Prime Minister Harper did not address the current trade imbalance," Dias said.
The current auto trade imbalance is $2.6 billion, which is expected to increase under this deal.
According to a Unifor analysis, the deal extends to South Korea many of the investor and government procurement rights already in NAFTA.
Unifor has endorsed a call for a task force to monitor the deal’s impact.
Canadian negotiators were unable to win the same protections to those the U.S. negotiated in its deal with South Korea.
The US deal included protections against import surges into the US market and a ground-breaking "snap-back" provision enabling the US government to return tariffs to pre-agreement levels if Korean non-tariff barriers limit US exports. Even with these provisions, the US has suffered a worsening auto trade deficit.
"We expected our political leadership to stand up for the rights, jobs and economic security of Canadians - and they have failed to do that," said Dias.
Resource sectors such as forestry are among the Unifor-represented sectors that may benefit.
For Unifor's Briefing Kit and Fact Sheet on South Korea, go to: http://www.unifor.org/en/search/content/korea.
