The impact of the NAFTA treaty on wage competition, immigration, labor standards and cross-border co-operation

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Hualde ◽  
Miguel Angel Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Area ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 led to the formation of a social and economic area characterized by marked asymmetry between its members: the USA, Mexico and Canada. Seven years later the results in terms of salaries, employment and labor standards are not very positive, although they have not produced the catastrophic results foreseen by some. In Mexico several hundred thousand jobs were created, especially in the maquiladora export industry, but this has been associated with falling living standards and rising poverty. Migration from Mexico to the USA has increased. Poor labor standards and illegal employment have led to collaboration between NGOs and trade unions on both sides of the frontier.

NAFTA at 20

2015 ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
E. Komkova
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Export Market ◽  
The North ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Trade And Investment

2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created the world’s largest free trade area. Now it links 470 million people producing more than 19 trillion USD worth of goods and services. The article addresses five issues: the international importance of NAFTA; the economic transformation that has occurred in the USA, Canada and Mexico since the advent of the NAFTA; a “thought experiment” on what American, Canadian and Mexican performance might have been without the NAFTA; the detrimental effect of 9/11 on the North American economic integration; and what’s next? At the time of its signing, NAFTA in many ways was considered a “gold standard” in terms of international free trade agreements. For the first time ever a free trade agreement brought together both developed and developing countries. It also broadened the scope of traditional FTAs by embracing services, foreign investments and property rights, and recognized the importance of workers' and environmental rights and issues. In terms of trade and investment NAFTA has been an undisputed success. Canada ranks as the United States’ largest export market, while Mexico is its second-largest export market. Today – thanks to NAFTA – North Americans not only sell more goods to one another, they also make more things together. For every dollar of goods that Canada and Mexico export to the USA, there are 25 cents’ worth of US inputs into Canadian goods and 40 cents’ worth into Mexican ones. Regardless of the impressive economic record, NAFTA has its critics. The agreement has not underwent a major update since its inception in 1994, i.e. prior to the rise of electronic commerce and, digital services, advanced manufacturing and many other innovative features of the global economy. As far as there is no political appetite to update NAFTA directly, indirect route is a subject of wide speculation. Canada, the USA and Mexico are negotiating partners to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any benefits conferred by the TPP that go further than NAFTA would take precedence. It is assumed that the TPP should help to modernize NAFTA commitments and upgrade the North American trade and investment.

scholarly journals The Impact of NAFTA on the United States

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E Burfisher ◽  
Sherman Robinson ◽  
Karen Thierfelder
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Diversion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trade Creation ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Trade Data ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

We describe the main economic arguments posed for and against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the U.S. policy debate. To evaluate these arguments, we analyze recent trade data and survey post-NAFTA studies. We find that both the U.S. and Mexico benefit from NAFTA, with much larger relative benefits for Mexico. NAFTA also has had little effect on the U.S. labor market. These results confirm the consensus opinion of economists at the time of the debate. Finally, studies find that trade creation greatly exceeds trade diversion in the region under NAFTA, especially in intermediate goods.

North American Free Trade Agreement Truck Highway Corridors: U.S.-Mexican Truck Rivers of Trade

1998 ◽  
Vol 1613 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. McCray
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
The North ◽  
Federal Highway ◽  
The Impact

The dramatic growth in trade between the United States and Mexico from $12.39 billion to $56.8 billion of U.S. exports and $17.56 billion to $73 billion of U.S. imports between 1977 and 1996 and the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have focused attention on the impact that the truck-transported portion of this trade has on U.S. highways. State and federal highway administrators are concerned with the planning implications this additional unexpected traffic may have on the transportation infrastructure. Public advocacy groups want additional highway funds to promote one NAFTA highway corridor over others in an effort to stimulate additional economic development. Most of these groups advocate a north-south route through the United States between Canada and Mexico that follows the alignment of an existing federal highway number. Research conducted by the U.S. government under the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act has failed to define NAFTA highway corridors adequately, leaving policy makers with little concrete information with which to combat the rhetoric of the trade highway corridor advocacy groups. A report is provided on research critical to the needs of both highway administrators and corridor advocacy groups, namely, the location of U.S.-Mexican trade highway corridors and the trade truck density along these corridors.

“Let’s Not be Laughed at Anymore: Donald Trump and Japan from the 1980s to the Present”

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The North ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores the central role of Japan’s rise to global economic prominence in the evolution of Donald J. Trump’s worldview. It traces how the transformation of the relationship between the United States and Japan during the 1980s informed Trump’s ideas about trade and protectionism, globalization, the international economy, and executive power. Trump, it argues, was a product of U.S.-Japanese relationship; while he began his public career as a prominent critic of Japan, claiming that the country exploited American trade and defense policy, his career in real estate heavily relied on Japanese finance. This contradictory approach continues to shape his understanding of Japan. As president, Trump repeatedly condemns Japan as predatory and protectionist, but also seeks expanded Japanese investment in the United States to revitalize the U.S. economy. Equally important, Trump has expanded criticisms originating with Japan to countries like China and Mexico, international agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the World Trade Organization. By tracing Trump’s rhetorical, financial, and diplomatic encounters with Japan over the past thirty years, this article uncovers the sources of Trump’s contradictory attitudes towards trade, globalization, and cross-border investment and his understandings of strong leadership and executive power.

scholarly journals NAFTA's Impact on Korean Exports

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
Kye Woo Lee
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Diversion ◽  
Gravity Models ◽  
External Trade ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The North ◽  
Trading Market ◽  
The Impact

Many Asian countries arc concerned that as the negotiations for the propa;el Free T rale Agreement of the Americas (FT AA) are concluded in 2005, it may erode their share of the largest trading market, North America. As a first step roward assessing the impact of the FTAA on Asian countries, rhis paper evaluates rhe effects of FTAA's predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on Korean external trade. Analys.as of the shifi: in shares, rrade intensity indices, and gravity models are used to assess the impact at a macro level, while trade diversion aod crearion effects are tested at sub-industty levels. Some lessons for future action are also drawn.

scholarly journals Embrace or Not? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Globalization on the Country’s Sustainability in the Case of NAFTA

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hexian Wang ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Mengyuan Zhu ◽  
Qing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The North ◽  
Industrial Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Important Evidence

This paper investigates the international trade role in economic development and sustainability. Specifically, a trade agreement is one of the most popular ways for a country to participate in trade, therefore we aim to estimate the relationship between a free trade agreement (FTA) and economic development on a country level, using the North American Free Trade Agreement as an example. Sustainability on an industrial level is also discussed in parallel. To achieve this, a counterfactual analysis is used to generate the welfare with and without the trade agreement to draw inference on the sustainability analysis. We find that the FTA does facilitate a country’s sustainability. However, it is less clear on an industrial level. This finding provides important evidence relating to a country’s sustainable development and has broadened the study scope regarding the impact of participating in an FTA with regard to economic sustainability.

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