THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT INTRODUCTION.
In December of 1992, Brian Mulroney of Canada, Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico, and George Bush of the United states signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which will remove most barriers to trade and investment among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The legislatures of all three countries approved the agreement in 1993 and NAFTA was implemented on January 1, 1994. .
NAFTA was built upon a 1989 trade agreement between the United States and Canada, which eliminated or reduced many tariffs between the two countries. NAFTA called for immediate elimination of duties on half of all US goods shipped to Mexico and gradually phasing out other tariffs over fifteen years. The elimination of Mexican duties allows the US to supply Mexico with more US goods and to boost US jobs. The NAFTA accord is expected to raise Mexico's wages and standard of living. Consequently, the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants to the US is expected to decline. The agreement removed restrictions from many categories of goods such as motor vehicles and automotive parts, computers, textiles, and agriculture. Other objectives of the treaty included:.
Promote fair competition.
Increase investment in the territories.
Protect and enforce intellectual property rights.
Establish a frame work for further cooperation.
"Chapter 5 of the Agreement attempts to ensure that customs procedures will facilitate trade flows as much as possible."" The NAFTA Center, located in Dallas, Texas, was created as a free information service, that is offered by the Mexican and U.S. Customs Administrations, with input from Revenue Canada, to answer questions concerning customs procedures under NAFTA. ("Brief-).
There was uneasiness in the United States that jobs would be lost. It was feared that United States plants would move to Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor and lax enforcement of environmental and workers' rights laws.