The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a trade agreement negotiated in 1994 between Canada, the United States, and Mexico to allow for free trade. All three nations have benefited from the deal. It also resulted in the expansion of some of Mexico's economic industries, such as agriculture, communications, and vehicles, as businesses from both the United States and Canada have moved there. This resulted in the development of new jobs, but locals protested that the jobs were low-paying and the organization did not contribute to narrowing the income disparity that existed between the United States and Mexico.
Benefits and Criticisms of NAFTA
The NAFTA agreement has been beneficial in that it led to the growth of trade between the three member countries from $297 billion to $1.14 trillion between 1994 and 2015. Trade grew because of the tariffs had been reduced and thus leading to decreased cost of doing business. Lowered tariffs reduced the cost of importing and thus low prices of products. Low prices were beneficial to the consumers.
Canada's Economic Growth
Canada has witnessed economic growth due to the increased trade with the North American partners as a result of the removal of obstacles that were hindering free movement of goods. This has led the country reaping a lot from the trade despite the influx of low-cost goods that are ruining the local industry.
Issues with Illegal Immigration in the United States
To the US, those who helping push the bill for NAFTA creation through had argued that the agreement would decrease illegal migration by nearly 75%. But more than twenty years after the enactment, illegal immigration is still a big problem to the United States. Generally, NAFTA has been criticized for failing to deliver many of the expected benefits as its creators had promised and thus leaving the agreement with a little impact.
