The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was designed to open up the Canadian, U.S. and Mexican borders to free trade; however, NAFTA's ratification and implementation over the last decade has not had uniform success. The author points out that, while many detractors of NAFTA had predicted that the U.S. economy would run at an overall trade deficit with both Canada and Mexico, they failed to observe that overall exports to these two markets would increase greatly as well. The paper also examines the impact of NAFTA on the U.S. job market and concludes that some of the apparatus within NAFTA's regulatory structure, which allows for negotiation and renegotiation, should be utilized to make adjustments for the economic impact NAFTA has had on the U.S. economy especially on job loss. The paper includes tables on job creation and loss and wage changes.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Positive Economic Impact of NAFTA
Negative Economic Impact of NAFTA
Future Trends
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"One industry that has been in decline in the U.S. for many years has been the textile industry. NAFTA's detractors often, supported by the U.S. textile industry itself, belabored this point in arguments against ratification of NAFTA. Cook points out that although NAFTA led to expanded markets for the U.S. textile industry by: 1) the elimination of import duties into Mexico on U.S. produced yarns and cotton, and 2) by mandating that Mexican textile manufacturers actually utilize U.S. yarn and cotton in textiles that are exported to the U.S. and Canadian markets."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bacon, D. (2004). The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Between rivalry and co-operation. (2003). Economist, 269/8352, pp.33-35.
• Cook, K. (2004). NAFTA: A clear success for U.S. and Mexican textile and cotton trade. AgExporter, Jan, p.22. Retrieved September 30, 2006 from http://www.fas.usda.gov/ info/agexporter/2004/January
• Dong, J. (2004). NAFTA spells success for consumer-oriented products--With some reservations. AgExporter, Jan, p.26. Retrieved September 30, 2006 from http://www.fas.usda.gov/ info/agexporter/2004/January
• Dunne, N., Fidler S., and Waldmeir, P. (1997). Clinton battles NAFTA's 'Flypaper Syndrome'. Financial Post 1 Jul: 6.

More papers on The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

• Research Paper # 49193 : "The North American Free Trade Agreement"
• Essay # 83641 : "The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)"
• Essay # 87529 : "The North American Free Trade Agreement and Mexico"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: