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North American Free Trade Agreement: NAFTA
Introduction
I believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement was an inevitable
step in the evolution of the United States economic policy. The globilization
of the world economy due to technological advances in computers and
communications have shrunk the world to the point where no single country acting
alone can effectively compete on the foreign market. Even the United States,
with its vast resources, can not have an absolute advantage in all thing that it
produces. It does not have unlimited factors of endowments and must do its best
to make these available to the companies within its borders.
There are two basic sides to the argument over the North American Free
Trade Agreement. The Pro-NAFTA side views the treaty as a way to provide a
large, efficient production base for the entire geopolitical area. This would
result in lower cost to consumers and an increase in exports to Mexico and
Canada. The multiplier effect would then take place producing growth in all
areas. The Anti-NAFTA group feels that Mexico will be an unequal partner due
to the lower wage rates of the Mexican populace, causing the loss of
thousands of jobs in the United States and Canada. Environmentalist fear that
pollution will spread across the continent. Farmers fear that produce grown in
Mexico will be contaminated from pesticides banned in the United States. These
are but a few of the arguments for and against NAFTA.
What does NAFTA mean
A Fr ...