Multilateral Trade: A Burden On Economic Freedom Or An

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has boosted the US economy growth by introducing free trade with Mexico and Canada. Since, after the implementation of NAFTA in 1994, US have experienced several favourable outcomes. The imports and exports of agricultural goods, electronic equipment, machinery, automobiles, drugs, oil and minerals have been increased among the NAFTA countries thus giving rise to total profits. The agreement has also contributed in eliminating the unemployment in United States and has controlled inflation rates. NAFTA bloc has also created number of job opportunities in the country. Moreover, the consumer prices have been decreased and income levels of US citizens have been raised due to reduced tariffs and taxes. This paper will discuss the facts and figures since 1993 and show how United States has achieved benefits with NAFTA agreement.

The exchange of goods and services between international borders or territories is known as international trade. It allows countries to use excess resources, if the resource can be produced more efficiently then it can be sold cheaply. If a country lacks access to certain resources they can obtain that resource through the aid of international trade.

Foreign oil dependency is a major topic that is hotly debated in US politics. The United States relies on imported oil for about 40% (in 2012) of petroleum consumed and is the world’s largest consumer of oil. About 53% of the foreign oil imported is from other Western nations such as Canada, Mexico and Brazil. 28% is from the Persian Gulf, 16% from Africa and the remaining from other areas of the world. Canada is currently the leading crude oil supplier to the US. Some believe that importing oil has benefits to our economy, while others believe it is a security threat.

The effects of NAFTA on Mexico, U.S, and their economic situation have impacts on political interests. There was main objective of Mexico in pursuing free trade area with the United States or with other countries to stabilize the Mexican economy in sustainable way and promote economic development by attracting huge foreign direct investment means of increasing exports, in house manufacturing and creating jobs. NAFTA would improve investor confidence in Mexico has directly impact to increase export diversification, create job market increase wage rates, reduce poverty, improve standard of living, quality and economic growth

Nonetheless, many analysts agree that NAFTA has made a mark. U.S.-Mexico trade continues to grow, and NAFTA and the promises it brings have lessened the impact of the Mexican recession and quickened its recovery. Healthy, growing bilateral trade, they say, depends on healthy, growing economies, and Mexico’s recovery and continuing economic liberalization should fuel that trend.

NAFTA was established in 1992 and came into effect January 1st 1994. NAFTA was created to eliminate or reduce any tariffs between the three countries. It was formed to uphold greater trade between three countries "the increase in agricultural trade was doubled after the eight- to 12-year 'phase-in' period” (Grant, newswise). It promoted conditions of fair competitions, it also increased investment opportunities. NAFTA shows how free trade increases wealth and competitiveness,delivering real benefits to families, farmers, workers, manufacture and consumers. The impact of NAFTA on trade relations between Canada and the U.S. is more difficult to measure because the two countries had a free trade deal even before. NAFTA has helped boost agriculture flows between the two

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted between two industrial countries and a yet still developing nation. This was an agreement that was the first of its kind due to the relationship that the countries had and the investment opportunities that it presented. The United States, Canada, and developing Mexico decided to work towards eliminating most tariffs and non-tariff barriers between the three in order to increase the flow of trade in goods and services. Since its enactment NAFTA has led to the providing of over 40 million more jobs throughout the countries, and it has also tripled merchandise trade between the three participants to an astounding $946 billion USD in 2008 (NAFTA Now). However even then it is still not very clear whether enacting NAFTA was worth the time and effort and in fact the United States may have been better off not having joined NAFTA.

In layman’s terms, NAFTA hoped to encourage trade by eliminating the former obstacles in order to facilitate the ease of goods and services across all borders. It also expected to improve fair competition by making all countries abide by the rules laid out in the agreement.. An example of how NAFTA has improved investment opportunities is evident in Canada, where the “direct investment in the United States and Mexico[…] has increased by 340 percent between 1990 and 2002 from $60 billion to 205 billion. In addition [Canada] benefited from $225 billion in American and Mexican direct investment in Canada” (Further). As far as intellectual property in concerned, everyone knows that it’s easy to get foreign, more specifically Mexican made, designer knock-offs. Under NAFTA, these practices would be prohibited and each country would have to respect the other’s trademarks, copyrights, etc. NAFTA sets out guild lines to deal with disputes as well as a set of rules that outlines practices and procedures. Through these objectives, NAFTA is tying to improve the relations and the economies of all three nations.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as the NAFTA, is a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico launched to enable North America to become more competitive in the global marketplace (Amadeo, 2011). The NAFTA is regarded as “one of the most successful trade agreements in history” for its impact on increases in agricultural trade and investment among the three contracting nations (North American Free Trade Agreement, 2011). Supporters and opponents of the NAFTA have argued the effects of the agreement on participating nations since its inception; yet, close examination proves that NAFTA has had a relatively positive impact on the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

When countries have needs but not the capacity to satisfy those demands they enter into trading through the exchange of surplus, produce to help their trading partners. Canada, Mexico, and the United States created a treaty to establish a relationship that can benefit everyone in this process known as NAFTA. This agreement has been criticized and has been blamed for hurting the US economy more than helping. Although speculations may be misguided, I do not know much about this agreement, and I must research multiple sources. This paper seeks to understand if NAFTA has produced significant benefits for Canada, Mexico, and the United States economies.

Many economists agree that NAFTA satisfied most if not all of its objectives. NAFTA has had a multitude of other positive effects. The first of which is decreases in price for various goods and services. This can be hard to notice unless one is looking for it due to some prices falling by mere cents. The power of slightly lower prices comes into play when aggregated over millions of purchases. According to Dr. Scott Holladay, an economics

     International trade is defined as trade between two or more partners from different countries in the exchange of goods and services. In order to understand International trade, we need to first know and understand what trade is, which is the buying and selling of products between different countries. International Trade simply is globalization of the world and enables countries to obtain products and services from other countries effortlessly and expediently.

Being the world 's largest economy, the United States is also largest exporter and importer of goods and services. American economic growth relies heavily on trade. According to a recent report on NAFTA, “Since 1992, nearly 20 million new jobs have been created in the U.S., in part due to the 1994 NAFTA agreement. Total trade between the NAFTA partners -- the U.S., Canada, and Mexico -- rose from $293 billion in 1993 to more than $475 billion in 1997, and has increased since. ” (Bowman, Free Trade). It is obvious evidence that international trade is beneficial to the US economy, at least in the 1990s.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization that helps countries and producers of goods deal fairly and smoothly with conducting their business across international borders. It mainly does this through WTO agreements, which are negotiated and signed by a large majority of the trading nations in the world. The purpose of the WTO is to ensure that global trade commences freely, smoothly and predictably while also aiming to create economic peace and stability in the world through a multilateral system. This is based and applied to member states, currently 162 countries, that have consented and ratified the rules of the WTO in their individual countries. Simply put, these documents act as contracts that provide the legal framework for conducting business among nations, integrating into a country 's domestic legal system, therefore, applying to local companies and nationals in the conduct of business internationally. For instance, if a company were to open an office or business in a foreign country, the rules of the WTO dictates how that can be done.1

It has been ten years since the signature of the NAFTA agreement among Canada, U.S., and Mexico. For Mexico, this was a decisive step away from a protectionism model toward a