Nafta Revisited

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) significantly affects industry and the economy in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The agreement not only affects trade but the environment, and labour unions among other things. This new book discusses the latest economic effects of NAFTA and how it has impacted the lives of workers in North America. Preface: NAFTA; NAFTA: Economic Effects on the United States After Five Years; NAFTA: Estimated U.S A Bibliography; NAFTA Labour Side Agreement: Lessons for the Worker Rights and Fast-Track Debate; NAFTA: Estimates of Job Effect and Industry Trade Trends After 4 Years; Adjustment Assistance for Workers Dislocated by the North American Free Trade Agreement; CBI-NAFTA Parity; North American Free Trade Agreement and Environmental Issues; NAFTA: Related Environmental Issues and Initiatives Updated; International Investor Protection: 'Indirect Expropriation' Claims Under NAFTA Chapter 11; North American Free Trade Agreement: Truck Safety Considerations; Chilean Trade and Economic Reform: Implications for NAFTA Accession; NAFTA, Mexican Trade Policy, and US-Mexico Trade: A Longer Term Perspective; Maquiladoras and NAFTA: The Economics of US-Mexico Production Sharing and Trade; NAFTA Implementation: The Canadian Woolens Controversy; NAFTA's Effect on Canada-US Trade and Investment; Index.

The contrast between the benefits which the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) was supposed to bring to Mexico and the actual consequences is the subject of thi s incisive analysis. '

The contrast between the benefits which the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) was supposed to bring to Mexico and the actual consequences is the subject of thi s incisive analysis. '

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Region: Middle and South America, grade: 1,0, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, language: English, abstract: On January 1, 1994, Mexico, Canada, and the United States established the largest free trade area under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) after two and a half years of negotiation. This agreement created a free trade area on the North American subcontinent with approximately 431 million inhabitants and a GDP of about $15.3 trillion in 2006. NAFTA represented an important milestone in global trade policy, not just because of the sheer size of the free trade area it has created, but also with regard to the comprehensiveness of the agreement. It covered not just merchandise trade but also issues related to investment, environmental policies, energy generation, and labor markets. NAFTA’s primary goal was the creation of a free-trade area with free movement of goods, service and capital, but no common market. In order to prevent the abuse of different external import tariffs, NAFTA implemented strict rules of origin. NAFTA is focused on economic cooperation and does not - in contrast to the European Union - intend a deeper political integration or the transfer of national sovereignty to a supranational organization. The creation of NAFTA is based on the fact that three countries, despite different size, economic structure, and ethnical background pursued the same goal, the establishment of a closer regional economic integration. Differences in economic terms between the member countries can be clarified by the distribution of NAFTA’s GDP in 2006. More than 86.2 percent of NAFTA’s total GDP was generated by the United States whereas Mexico contributed only 5.5 percent, which reflects the state of Mexico’s economic development. Additionally, the Mexican GDP per capita amounted to only 18 respectively 20 percent of the GDP per capita in the United States and Canada.4 This heterogeneity between the three participating countries may be the most significant aspect of this agreement. This paper discusses NAFTA’s accomplishments and failures after its first decade from the Mexican perspective as the agreement has been confronted with skepticism from its inception until today. While Mexican officials understood NAFTA as a measure to modernize the country through free trade, critics feared the transformation of the Mexican economy to a huge maquiladora where investors are mainly focused on the exploitation of Mexico’s low labor costs.5 Since the beginning of negotiations, Mexico’s former President Salinas has raised high expectations on the Mexican side in economic and social terms with his statement: “The whole point of NAFTA for Mexico is to be able to export goods and not people. That means creating jobs in Mexico.” In order to highlight whether NAFTA resulted in economic as well as social improvements, this paper focuses on a comparison of these two aspects.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Middle- and South America, grade: 1,0, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 29 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: On January 1, 1994, Mexico, Canada, and the United States established the largest free trade area under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) after two and a half years of negotiation. This agreement created a free trade area on the North American subcontinent with approximately 431 million inhabitants and a GDP of about $15.3 trillion in 2006. NAFTA represented an important milestone in global trade policy, not just because of the sheer size of the free trade area it has created, but also with regard to the comprehensiveness of the agreement. It covered not just merchandise trade but also issues related to investment, environmental policies, energy generation, and labor markets. NAFTA's primary goal was the creation of a free-trade area with free movement of goods, service and capital, but no common market. In order to prevent the abuse of different external import tariffs, NAFTA implemented strict rules of origin. NAFTA is focused on economic cooperation and does not - in contrast to the European Union - intend a deeper political integration or the transfer of national sovereignty to a supranational organization. The creation of NAFTA is based on the fact that three countries, despite different size, economic structure, and ethnical background pursued the same goal, the establishment of a closer regional economic integration. Differences in economic terms between the member countries can be clarified by the distribution of NAFTA's GDP in 2006. More than 86.2 percent of NAFTA's total GDP was generated by the United States whereas Mexico contributed only 5.5 percent, which reflects the state of Mexico's economic development. Additionally, the Mexican GDP per capita amounted to only 18 respectively 20 percent of the GD

NAFTA remains a centerpiece of US trade-policy debate, but its provisions have sacrificed environmental concerns for the sake of trade liberalization. This timely volume analyzes the national policies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The authors explain how the competing priorities of province, state, or government agendas can slow coordination measures to curtail emissions throughout North America. But, North American cooperation could serve as a model for how developed and developing countries can mutually benefit from an international climate change agreement. Emission reduction is now inextricably linked with trade and finance measures in this post-Kyoto era. The authors argue that the three NAFTA partners can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while mitigating concerns about trade competitiveness. NAFTA and Climate Change provides a critical assessment of how NAFTA initiatives will contribute to the achievement of important climate-change goals at both regional and global levels. This thorough investigation advances potential solutions, and ideas to develop practical channels for transferring technical and financial assistance from developed to developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and further economic development.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: USA, grade: 2,3, Free University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: In the wake of globalization, many countries are reducing trade barriers and tariffs, resulting in a rise of free-trade areas in which the participating countries trade freely among each other without any restrictions. The goal of these agreements is the increase of wealth in each nation's economy. To reach this goal, the USA, Canada and Mexico negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which came into effect on January, 1st 1994. It was the world's largest free-trade area with a combined population of over 360m people and a total GDP of 6$ trillion. Today, the NAFTA area comprises a 12.5$ trillion economy and a 430m strong population. For the first time, two highly industrialized, rich countries affiliated themselves with a poorer, newly industrialized country. At the time of its ratification, the agreement was extremely controversial in all three member states and opinions in political camps differed vastly. Supporters of the contract were mostly big companies and investors who were hoping that it would loosen restrictions and barriers on the capital market. Opponents of the agreement were trade unions which, especially in the United States, railed heavily against it. They feared outsourcing and massive job displacements to Mexico, a country in which labor is incredibly cheap and environment protection laws are lax or do not even exist. In Mexico, landowners were skeptical of NAFTA because they feared unfair competition with US-American farmers who are still to this day greatly subsidized by the government.