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Foreign Policy : Trade With Foreign Nations

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Foreign Policy – Trade with Foreign Nations
The policy issue I have chosen is trade with foreign nations. The approach that the United States government has adopted to address foreign trade is varied depending on the nation in question. For some nations, the United States has what is called a Free Trade Agreement which is an “arrangement among two or more countries under which they agree to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers on trade in goods among themselves” (Cooper, "Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy."). This means that the countries within these arrangements are agreeing not to place taxes on imports or exports and to drop other restrictions. Some countries that are included in Free Trade Agreements with the United States are Israel (since 1985), Canada (since 1989), and Mexico (since 1994) (Cooper, "Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy."). Canada and Mexico are included in a special Free Trade Agreement known as the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA which was created in January 1994. Although these nations are able to trade freely with the United States, there are some that are not included in Free Trade Agreements. The countries that work under these other forms of trade agreements are those that have not agreed to be free from tariffs or other barriers. In fact, in 1934, the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act gave the power to set tariffs to the President

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