NAFTA

2 Pages 548 Words

The North American Free Trade Agreement became a regional trade agreement between the three governments of Canada, United States, and Mexico in 1993. However, the first adaptation of this type of agreement came as the 1979 Trade Act, which also talked about the beginning of a trade embargo. During the eighties, the Mexican Government had many problems that the United States did not want to get into such as debts and precluded trade liberalization. Instead of dealing with Mexico, the US went north to Canada to setup the FTA (Free Trade Agreement). About a year later, NAFTA was approved on November of 1993, and became completely active on January 1, 1994. The Clinton Administration proposed expanding NAFTA to whole of Latin America as the FTAA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Supposedly, if the expansion of NAFTA were to go through, it would create a comprehensive trading regime, reducing both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade among the thirty four democratic states of North America and South America. The first obstacle for the FTAA was the authority of Fast Track. The procedure of Fast Track is when Congress gives the President authority to negotiate trade agreements and provides special rules for considering those agreements. In other words, Fast Track transfers constitutionally-mandated powers of Congress to the Executive Branch of the government. (Public Citizen 2/15/02)
Now many people do not agree with Fast Track for many reasons. Some say that by limiting public demand and constricting citizens ability to have meaningful discussions with their representatives on trade issues, Fast Track would concentrate even more power in the hands of transitional corporations that already enjoy privileged access to the trade policy-making process. The role of congress as our voice in trade negotiations would be diminished.
The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation ...