...ll you, the logic of free trade agreements is sound. Increased competition and access to resources, coupled with a decrease in job-killing tariffs and ‘protectionist’ policies lead to increased economic growth and employment. NAFTA – the trilateral trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico – since its inception has resulted in a threefold increase in trade between the US and Canada and a quadrupling of trade between the US an...
...ighest income bracket from around 70 percent down to 30 percent, while simultaneously increasing Cold War defense spending. These neoliberal policies were further cemented under the Clinton administration. With the passage of NAFTA, corporations raked in more and more profit as their liquid capital extended into untouched global markets, and increased outsourcing to newly exploited labor pools to swell the ranks of the unemployed. President Obama...
...look to those countries that are closest to us. Mexico, whose diaspora accounts for some 90 percent of the Hispanic population in this country, is a natural ally. A friend to the US with a growing economy, the promulgation of NAFTA seemed to spell a new chapter in the US-Mexican relationship. But mutual distrust over the effects of that trade agreement and immigration politics have derailed a potentially fruitful friendship. This situation has no...
...a and Mexico—may also join. If it can be pulled off, the TPP would be the largest free trade area in the world, with potentially dozens of vast and diverse signatories tied together economically, financially, and politically. NAFTA and the European Union would seem like quaint gnomes in comparison. However, it’s a big if. Vested political interests in all of these countries may prevent the birth of such the colossal free trade bloc. Just look at...
...in the region. As an example, it can be noted that ALBA—originally the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas—was conceived as an alternative to George W. Bush’s proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), essentially a NAFTA-like agreement for all of Latin America. The Bolivarian project, by means of its access to valuable energy resources, tries to circumvent traditionally US-led institutions and enable Latin American countries to interac...
...shington bipartisanship during the Clinton years. He talks about Ohio’s loss of manufacturing jobs and unfair practices whereby overseas workers are paid “three or four dollars a day.” In response to his opponent’s support of NAFTA, CAFTA, and the like, my dad asserts: “He says it’s just business — I say it’s wrong.” Unsurprisingly, each campaign visit to a union hall brought at least one positive mention of this ad. And yet, somewhat less expect...
...is exported to poor nations to feed hungry populations at affordable prices. 19% of US corn production in 2006 was exported, representing two thirds of the world’s corn exports. Exported corn generates its own problems: after NAFTA opened Mexican markets to American corn, subsidized production allowed US corn growers to undercut domestic Mexican corn prices, forcing smaller Mexican corn growers to slash their profits. The reliance on US imports o...
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