 President Carlos Salinas de Gortari began implementing sweeping neoliberal reforms, which required the amendment of the Constitution, especially curtailing the power of the Mexican state to regulate foreign business enterprises, but also lifting the suppression of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico.Mexico's economy was further integrated with that of US and Canada after 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) began lowering trade barriers.Seven decades of PRI rule ended in the year 2000 with the election of Vicente Fox of the conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN).