NAFTA is defined as the North American Free Trade Agreement between the Governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This pact calls for the gradual removal of tariffs and other trade barriers on most goods produced in North America. The agreement was finalised by the governments of Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan in October 1987, and it was implemented January 1st, 1994 . NAFTA is widely believed in Mexico and the U.S.A. to be a success but in Canada public support is fairly even. The main reason why free trade was being pushed was because in the early 1980's inflation and unemployment ratings were sky rocketing and something needed to be done to kick start Canada's economy. Some people have argued that free trade has had a negative impact on Canada's economy. While other people have argued that Canada's economy has greatly benefited under NAFTA. It can be said that it is very important to maintain a positive political relationship with the U.S.A. and NAFTA represents a major milestone in Canadian-U.S. relations. The degree that some aspects of NAFTA benefit Canada is in debate but Canada's current economy is definitely in better shape now than it was before NAFTA was implemented. .
Some people think that the NAFTA Pact has had a negative effect on Canadians. Some old issues that were supposed to be fixed by the NAFTA agreement were not solved. The U.S. placed a 19.3 percent duty on Canadian exports of soft wood lumber in 2001. This shows that the Americans are not always going to play by the rules when the pact does not favour their interests . Other areas that are still in dispute are uranium, beer government procurement, magnesium, steel, swine, wheat, sugar, and magazine publishing . Free trade is helping to ruin Canada's culture by making Canadians become more American. Canadian Nationalists see the influences of American Culture on Canadians increasing because of free trade .
