About NAFTA

NAFTA:  A Pioneering Agreement in International Trade

Passage of NAFTA was an important step in the process of globalization.  Covering a market of some 400 million people, NAFTA was the first regional trade agreement link the economies of industrialized and developing countries.  This historic document created the largest trading zone in the world and has become a lightning rod for public opinion on globalization.  For some, NAFTA is a model of what has gone right with globalization, while for others it is a lens to understand the deficiencies of globalization.  It is time to take stock of the results. There has been a proliferation of the international trade agreements. The U.S. has entered into the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement and a number of other bilateral trade agreements, at the same time as the negotiations to create the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, the conclude the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks have occurred.

 

The NAFTA region has changed too with immigration, border security and citizenship and economic underdevelopment and continued public insecurity in Mexico.  The competition that Asia, India and Europe have created for the United States has added much pressure as well.   There is much in flux. In the Fair Trade Academy we will seek answers to questions like:   Have we only lowered tariff and non-tariff barriers, or is there something more?  What has really happened to employment and labor standards in “the race to the bottom”?  Has NAFTA actually fostered increased trade and investment among Canada, Mexico and the United States?

 

How have anti-globalization protests raised new concerns making international trade be as much about fair trade as it is about free trade? Is there really broad and comprehensive regional free trade among the partners as national treatment is applied not only for imported goods but also investments and services as diverse as banking, brokerage, insurance, and transportation?  How have NAFTA and other international trade agreements operated to address the environmental consequences of trade?  In the Fair Trade Academy, we will examine the trade system that NAFTA and other trade agreement have created to resolve disputes between the state partners.