t of, goods and services between the parties;
* to promote conditions of fair competition in the free trade area;
* to increase substantially investment opportunities in the free trade area;
* to create effective procedures for the implementation and application of the agreement, for its joint administration and for resolution of disputes; and,
* to establish a framework for further trilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation to expand and enhance the benefits of the agreement (Hirsch, 1995).
The overall purpose of this sweeping trilateral agreement was to create a level playing field for businesses in all three countries. Has it accomplished this? For that answer, consider the data in this next section.
An analysis of recent press reports concerning NAFTA shows that there is good news and bad news. First, the bad news. NAFTA-related problems have been identified within most American industries: including the steel and metals manufacturers (Kelly, 1997); feedstuffs and grains (Pearson 997); farming and agriculture (Study outlines NAFTA..., 1997); manufacturing (Morton 1997); and petroleum (Holstein and Robinson 1997).
There is also some good news. A report mandated by the 105th Congress designed to analyze the results of the NAFTA pact to date (Morton, 1997) shows that the United States' boost in exports to Canada has created 189,000 U.S. jobs over the past three years. The report stated that the three-year-old pact among Canada, Mexico and the U.S. created 311,000 of the 8.6 million new jobs in the U.S. between 1993 and 1996, and eliminated the U.S. trade deficit with Canada.
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