The Free Trade Debate On Canada

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an international agreement between Canada, America and Mexico. This agreement took effect in January 1994 and was signed by President Bill Clinton. This agreement brought great changes in trade volumes and open new opportunities for millions of labours. Later, in January 2008 according to the schedule all duties and restrictions were eliminated. About 45,000 tariffs were eliminated in 1994 and only 3000 were left until 1999.

In 1987, Mulroney opened up negotiations that would eventually lead to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Canada and United States. The FTA was signed on October 4th, 1987 in hopes of improving trade transactions between the two countries (see fig2).

NAFTA makes North America formed a more open trade in services market, in many complex and highly

3.___ The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is advantageous for Canada because manufacturing jobs have been sent to Mexico where labour is cheaper.

With trade increasing in Canada, on the one hand, it increases the demand for more people to do the work, which means that more people get a job and have more money to spend on goods that are imported from other countries. On the other hand, Canadian companies in different divisions from automotive, to energy, to agriculture(www.theglobeandmail.com) have to hire more people that are able to work because there are more products that should people to deal with between trade and with Canadian companies are becoming more profitable, it has more money to hire more people. For example, jobs are increased in the area of transportation in order to get the products to the stores. According to the fact, the agreement has helped produce over 1.8 million new jobs for Canadians at first 5 years of NAFTAs existence (www.nafta.ca). However, NAFTA makes huge damage for the Canadian automotive industry because with a stronger automotive union, every year will require higher wages, which slows process and makes it inflexible and expensive (www.international.gc.ca). Although NAFTA hurts the auto industry in Canada, it brings more benefits to Canada because it decrease the unemployment and improve the Canadian economy and condition of

Canada, Mexico and the United States were all involved in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. This agreement had really helped improve Canada’s economy and raised the standards of living in Canada. NAFTA had also proved itself to be a solid foundation to building Canada’s prosperity which is good for Canada’s independence as well (North, 1). After the free trade agreement, there were many positive effects in the Canadian economy. John F. Kerry, an American politician had once said, “NAFTA recognizes the reality of today's economy - globalization and technology.”(John, 1) This agreement states that Canada is helping in globalizing the economy of not only America but Canada and Mexico as well. In this case, the agreement is improving and benefiting the Canadian economy very well which is great for Canada's independence. It shows that Canada can make its own decisions with other countries to benefit their own country in many ways economic wise as well as independence wise. This also shows that although Canada and America are important trading partners, it doesn't necessarily mean that one country is a step behind the other. It means that if they work together, they can benefit each other and help improve one another's growth as

The NAFTA was a trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It was signed into office in 1993. Granting free trade and no tariff tax on products being imported into the United States. NAFTA was heavily criticized by Ross Perot, who argued that Americans would hear a “giant sucking sound”

The first reason why NAFTA has been beneficial to Canada is that it has allowed Canada to create more jobs and has also been a leading reason the unemployment rate is low in Canada. The creation and maintenance of jobs are advantageous to a country as it is a sign that more goods are being produced and traded. Jobs also keep Canadians prosperous and gives them the ability to support themselves. The introduction of free trade has opened up new job opportunities due to the security and accessibility to the American and Mexican markets. The newfound access to these markets allows for more goods to be traded and produced which means that more jobs are generated. Canadian businesses are now willing to expand their establishment also due to the

Investopedia.com states, “free trade is the economic policy of not discriminating against imports from and exports to foreign jurisdictions. (Buyers and sellers from separate economies may voluntarily trade without the domestic government applying tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions on their goods or services.)” In the previous decade, one of the many controversial subjects in the Canadian economy included whether or not it was beneficial for our federal government to eradicate free trade or open it up to other nations. During my research, I discovered that free trade agreements between Canada and other nations were not as beneficial as they may have seemed for they were often business and market oriented.

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.

The North American Free Trade Agreement or as its most commonly known NAFTA “is a comprehensive rules-based agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico”, that came into effect on January 1,1994. All three countries signed it in December of 1992; later on November of 1993 it was ratified by the United States congress. NAFTA was not only used in cutting down on tariffs between both countries but it also help deal with issues such as Transportation, Border Issues, and Environmental Issues between these two countries. NAFTA changed some tariffs immediately and within fifteen years other tariffs will fall to zero. NAFTA was not created to just lower tariffs it was also created to open protected sectors in agriculture, energy,

It is commonly believed that free trade between nations is a mutually beneficial arrangement for all parties involved; indeed, this is held to be an absolute truth. Though free trade is undoubtedly the most effective form of commerce between countries from a purely economic standpoint, increasingly we find that our so-called "free trade agreements" are horribly unbalanced. Indicative of these fiascoes is the North American

     There are various trade agreements the United States have with many other countries and I will do a brief overview of a few of them. The most noticeable one is the North American Free Trade Agreement, which include the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This agreement was constructed and approved in January of 1992 and formed the largest free trade area. NAFTA eliminated and reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers in addition to comprehensive provisions in the way trade was conducted between these countries.

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.

barriers were eliminated within ten years of the Act. A national treatment for member countries was adopted to liberalize trade services and investments. Performance requirements were removed, and dispute mechanism for investment conflicts were created. Protectionist issues emerged regarding progress in eliminating anti-dumping policies and persistent administered protection frameworks.5NAFTA did not substantially liberalize trade amongst all three counties in the agreement and fell short of its high expectations but it has certainly been a beneficial liberalizing force overall for Canadians. The North American Free Trade Agreement has been beneficial for Canada due its strengthening of relations with the United States, and increasing economic growth in our nation.