NAFTA

NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA, better known as the North American Free Trade Agreement, was first introduced / signed on January 1, 1994. This agreement basically was planned out to remove most barriers to trade and invest among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This is an agreement that is loved by many and also hated for several reasons. Benefits to U.S. Agriculture and helping the Economy, in my opinion, is what NAFTA does best according to my research. Canada and Mexico are the second and third largest export markets for U.S. agricultural products. Exports to the two markets combined are greater than exports to Japan or the 15 member European Union, which means more money for the U.S. With that being known, the positive aspects of NAFTA begin to flow in. This helped to more than double trade among the three countries, from $306 billion in 1993 to $621 billion in 2003. It also helped expand U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico from $142 billion to $263 billion during that decade. It has helped grow Mexican exports to NAFTA partners by 232 percent, or $143 billion, between 1993 and 2001. As for employment, manufacturing output increased 44 percent in the 1990’s, which increased employment billion, 1993, nafta, million, mexico, canada, percent, jobs, helped, between, trade, exports, 2000, economy, united, positive, mexican, manufacturing, employment, agreement, took, states, second, poverty, partners, number, now, negative, markets, lost, known, increased, increase, first, export, endless