Skip to main content
HR 978 105th Congress House Foreign Trade and International Finance Agriculture and Food Agriculture in foreign trade Air pollution control Air quality Arizona Autoimmune diseases Automobile inspection Bacterial diseases Balance of payments Barley Birth defects Boundaries California Canada Cholera Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues Commerce Congress Congress and foreign policy

NAFTA Accountability Act

Introduced: March 6, 1997 Introduced by: Kaptur, Marcy Democratic · Ohio See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 6, 1997
Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
Mar 6, 1997
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Mar 6, 1997
Introduced in House
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

NAFTA Accountability Act - Requires assessment of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), renegotiation of certain NAFTA provisions, and withdrawal from NAFTA unless specified conditions are met and certified to.

Sets forth conditions for continuing U.S. participation in NAFTA, which must be met before the end of 1998. Requires certifications by certain U.S. officials with respect to NAFTA, relating to: (1) overall trade balance between each NAFTA Party (United States, Canada, and Mexico) (by the Secretary of Commerce); (2) currency values (by the Secretary of the Treasury); (3) gains in U.S. jobs and living standards (by the Secretary of Labor); (4) health and environmental standards, with respect to food imports and to U.S.-Mexico border areas (by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency); (5) flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Canada (by the Attorney General); (6) NAFTA Party democracy and human freedoms (by the President); (7) U.S. agriculture (by the Secretary of Agriculture); and (8) compliance with U.S. transportation safety standards by Mexican commercial trucks or buses coming into the United States (by the Secretary of Transportation).

Requires the President to renegotiate, in specified ways, the terms of NAFTA to: (1) correct trade deficits, currency distortions, loss of U.S. jobs, and agricultural tariff and quota provisions; and (2) ensure the safety of the public health and the environment, provide effective drug interdiction, and ensure compliance with certain U.S. transportation standards.

Directs the President to consult regularly with the Congress regarding such renegotiations and certifications. Directs the U.S. Trade Representative to consult with appropriate congressional committees in developing technical and conforming amendments that may be required to carry out this Act.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that until the conditions set by this Act are met: (1) the President should not engage in negotiations to expand NAFTA to include other countries; and (2) fast-track authority should not be renewed with respect to the approval of any such NAFTA expansion.

What's happening now March 6, 1997

Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2