NAFTA Assignment

The North American Free Trade Agreement is a trade deal that went into effect under

President Clinton in 1994. This agreement was established by Canada, Mexico, and the United

States to reduce and eliminate trade barriers between the three nations. It promotes fair

competition and increase investment opportunities in the territories. Small business is expected

to benefit the most because of the lower trade barriers, which means that it will less expensive to

do business among member countries.

NAFTA has some drawbacks and criticism. Because there is little to no trade barriers,

many large manufacturing has moved their manufacturing to Mexico because of the cheaper

labor. They would then import the finished product back to the United States to sell to US

consumers. This results in lower manufacturing job in the US, down from 17 million in 1994 to

12.4 million in 2017.

The new NAFTA, which is actually called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement,

USMCA, was signed on June 19, 2019. This new agreement is very similar to the old NAFTA,

in which it is a trade agreement to facilitate more trade between the three nations. There are some

differences between NAFTA and USMCA though. First, is that US farmers get more access to

the Canadian dairy market with this new agreement. This may mean more US dairy export to

Canada. The new agreement also extends the terms of copyright from 50 years to 70 years. This

means that author can have their work protected for longer. Pharmaceutical drug protection has

also been extended to protect them from generic competition. Labor provisions, like 40 percent

of automobile parts must be made by workers who earn at $16 an hour by 2023. These changes

have been made to provide greater protection for US products, but still the same concept of free
trade from the old NAFTA. The USMCA have been signed by the presidents of Canada, Mexico,

and United States, and just need their respective country to ratify it.

Work Cited

Kirby, Jen. “USMCA, Trump's New NAFTA Deal, Explained in 500 Words.” Vox, Vox, 20 June

2019, www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17930092/usmca-mexico-nafta-trump-trade-deal-

explained.

“North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).” Inc.com, Inc., 30 Nov. -1,

www.inc.com/encyclopedia/north-american-free-trade-agreement-nafta.html.

Sraders, Anne. “What Is NAFTA? History, Purpose and What It Means in 2019.” TheStreet, 22

Aug. 2019, www.thestreet.com/politics/nafta-north-american-free-trade-agreement-

14651970.