About one-quarter of all U.S. imports, such as crude oil, machinery, gold, vehicles, fresh produce, livestock and processed foods, come from Canada and Mexico, the second and third largest suppliers of imported goods to the United States. In addition, about one-third of U.S. exports, particularly machinery, vehicle parts, mineral fuels and plastics, go to Canada and Mexico. Canada saw a 243% increase in U.S. foreign direct investment in real terms between 1993 and 2013, and real GDP per capita grew faster than its neighbour`s from 1993 to 2015, although it remains about 3.2% lower. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a pact to remove most barriers to trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico, which entered into force on January 1, 1993. Some of its provisions were implemented immediately, while others were phased in over the next 15 years. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, who opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, called it “a continuation of other disastrous trade deals such as NAFTA, CAFTA and normal, sustainable trade relations with China.” He believes that free trade agreements have led to the loss of American jobs and the fall in American wages. Sanders said America needs to rebuild its manufacturing base with U.S.

factories for well-paying jobs for American workers, rather than outsourcing to China and elsewhere. [126] [127] [128] This trilateral trade totalling $1.0 trillion has increased by 258.5% in nominal terms since 1993. The real increase – that is, adjusted for inflation – was 125.2%. In its May 24, 2017 report, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) wrote that the economic impact of NAFTA on the U.S. economy was modest. In a 2015 report, the Congressional Research Service summarized several studies as follows: “In reality, NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by critics or the great economic gains predicted by developers. The overall net impact of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, largely because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for only a small percentage of U.S. GDP. However, there have been adjustment costs for workers and businesses as the three countries have adapted to more open trade and investment between their economies. [93]:2 The political divide was particularly wide with respect to views on free trade with Mexico. Contrary to a positive view of free trade with Canada, which 79% of Americans described as a fair trading partner, only 47% of Americans believed Mexico was doing fair trade.

The gap between Democrats and Republicans has widened: 60 percent of Democrats thought Mexico was doing fair trade, while only 28 percent of Republicans were doing so. It was the highest level of Democrats and the lowest level of Republicans ever recorded by the Chicago Council Survey. President Donald Trump railed against this during his campaign, promising to renegotiate the deal and “tear it apart” if the U.S. could not get the concessions he wanted. A renegotiated agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada was approved in 2020 to update NAFTA. But why did Trump and many of his supporters see NAFTA as “the worst trade deal of all time” while others saw its main deficit in a lack of ambition and the solution in even more regional integration? What was promised? What was delivered? Who were the winners of NAFTA and who were the losers? Read on to learn more about the history of the agreement, as well as the main players in the agreement and their results. Post-NAFTA economic growth has not been impressive in any of the countries involved. The United States and Canada have suffered greatly from several economic recessions, including the Great Recession of 2007-2009, which overshadowed the positive effects that NAFTA could have had. Mexico`s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a slower pace than other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Chile, and per capita income growth was also not significant, although there was a boom in the middle class in the years following NAFTA. It is difficult to find a direct link between NAFTA and general employment trends. The Economic Policy Institute, which is partly funded by the union, estimated that in 2013, 682,900 net jobs were displaced by the U.S.

trade deficit with Mexico. In a 2015 report, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said NAFTA “did not cause the huge job losses feared by critics.” On the other hand, it was recognized that “in some sectors, trade-related effects could have been greater, particularly in sectors most exposed to the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, such as the textile, clothing, automotive and agricultural industries”. Mexico is the third largest trading partner of the United States and the second largest export market for U.S. products. Mexico was our third largest trading partner (after Canada and China) in 2018 and the second largest export market. .