Impact of NAFTA on Jobs in the U.S. The Impact of NAFTA on Jobs in the United States

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is designed to create an open and common trading zone between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The United States and Canada already have such a zone under the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), which went into effect in 1989. Under NAFTA, all three countries will have to phase out tariffs and other trade barriers over a period of fifteen years. 99% of these tariffs will be eased out during the first ten years, while tariffs on politically sensitive products will be eliminated by the end of the fifteen year period. Almost all import quotas and licensing requirements will be eliminated and all three countries will be forced to give equal treatment to each other's agricultural products when establishing marketing orders. Consequently, U.S. restrictions on apparel and Mexican limits on imported cars and trucks will fall, while bilateral free trade will be created in most farm products (Morici, 1993, p. 50).

The biggest controversy concerning NAFTA is over its effect on

. . .
TA, said that while short term gains in jobs should be realized, these gains may evaporate after twenty years; they also admitted that such very long term projections are unreliable (Bradsher, 1993, February 22, p. D1). The expectations of both the Bush and Clinton administrations concerning NAFTA are based upon the expected expansion of exports to Mexico. Prior to the election of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1988, Mexico had maintained very high tariffs and other import restrictions in order to protect Mexican-owned industry. President Salinas realized that U.S. investment was needed to remedy the ailing Mexican economy, so he began the reduction of import barriers and looked to U.S. investors for capital (Elliott, 1993, November 15, pp. 29-30). As a result, U.S. exports into Mexico dramatically rose during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Darling, 1993, November 11, p. A1; Lazzareschi & Lee, 1993, November 11, p. D1). The rising U.S. trade surplus with Mexico even has some Mexicans worried that NAFTA will only lead to a drastic decrease in Mexican jobs. These individuals say that Mexican operations cannot compete with U.S. operations in terms of productivity; thus, manufacturing will actually be reduced in Mexico
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Conroy Glasmeier, Economics IIE, Agreement CFTA, Pennsylvania Michigan, NAFTA Mohn, Commission ITC, Paso Mohn, Mexico Mexicans, CFTA Canadian, Currently Mexico, 1993 november, exports mexico, mohn 1992, los angeles times, job losses, los angeles, 1992 october, 1992 october 19, angeles times, mohn 1992 october, october 19, november 14, 1993 november 11, free trade, bradsher 1993 february,
Approximate Word count = 2531
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Impact of NAFTA on Jobs in the U.S. The Impact of NAFTA on Jobs in the United States