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NAFTA, or the North American Free Trade Agreement is a free trade pact among the United States, Mexico and Canada, which was never ratified as a treaty by the U.S. Senate. Instead, it was passed merely with a simple majority of the Democratic-controlled Congress in 1993, and signed into law by the Democratic President Bill Clinton in December 1993. Effective as of January 1, 1994, it can be repealed or modified by any other federal law.

NAFTA subjected the United States to the jurisdiction of a foreign tribunal for resolving disputes arising under the "free trade" zone created by the law, which is the world's biggest free-trade area. It requires the elimination of every trade barrier between the signers for fifteen years, and includes agreements on the environment and labor. This gave Mexico access to U.S. and Canadian markets, and vice-versa.

Its most contentious consequence in 2011 is whether trucks from Mexico will have full access to American highways.



NAFTA followed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1989 between the U.S. and Canada. NAFTA was originally negotiated by President George H. W. Bush and was an issue in the 1992 presidential election. Bush and Bill Clinton supported NAFTA but independent Ross Perot led the opposition. Once elected Clinton worked with Republicans and business to overcome strong opposition from liberals, environmentalists and labor unions. The dire predictions of the opposition never came to pass.


NAFTA) marked a major change in US-Mexican relations in the post-Cold War era and showed an important tendency in economic globalization. By establishing a relationship of economic cooperation and collaboration and practicing economic liberalization and integration, the United States, Canada, and Mexico all benefited. Furthermore, NAFTA propelled reform of the political system in Mexico and created a chance for Mexico to open up to the world and establish a foreign-oriented economy.


NAFTA greatly boosted Mexico's exports to the U.S. and made the country more attractive for foreign investment. It also helped it to weather the 1994-1995 peso crisis by ensuring access to U.S. and Canadian markets. There has been a growth in the other states of Mexico of large multinational companies whose maquiladora assembly operations have gained an increasingly larger proportion of Mexico's export production. Meanwhile the proportion of production by smaller manufacturing firms and other producers has steadily shrunk. Mexico continues to be an importer of technology and innovative processes, and likewise remains heavily dependent on the performance of the U.S. economy. Manufacturing remains concentrated in the Federal District, Jalisco and Nuevo Leon. Mexico's inadequate road system, particularly in the central and southern states, is a serious impediment to attracting foreign investment in those regions, as well for exploiting the full potential of NAFTA.

Volume of trade

NAFTA created the world's largest free trade area, which now links 444 million people producing $17 trillion worth of goods and services.

Trade between the United States and its NAFTA partners has soared since the agreement entered into force.U.S. goods and services trade with NAFTA totaled $1.0 trillion in 2007 (latest data available). Exports totaled $452 billion; Imports totaled $568 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with NAFTA was $116 billion in 2007.

US Exports to Canada and Mexico

Canada and Mexico were the top two purchasers of U.S. exports in 2008. (Canada $261.2 billion and Mexico $151.2 billion). Their main purchases were:

Machinery ($63.5 billion), Auto parts ($59.5 billion), Electrical Machinery ($49.2 billion), Oil ($27.9 billion), Plastics ($22.3 billion), and agricultural products ($32.3 billion).

Imports to US

The NAFTA countries were the largest and third largest suppliers of goods imported to the United States in 2008. (Canada $339.5 billon, and Mexico $215.9 billion). China was second.

They sold Americans their crude oil ($157.8 billion), autos ($79.7 billion), electrical nachinery ($63.5 billion), machinery ($46.5 billion), and agricultural products ($28.9 billion), especially fresh vegetables ($3.9 billion), snack foods, ($3.4 billion), live animals ($2.3 billion), processed fruit and vegetables ($2.0 billion), and wine and beer ($1.9 billion).

Further reading

  • Buhner-Thomas, Victor, et al. Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Political Economy of Open Regionalism. (2001) 322 pp.; important essays by scholars
  • Cameron, Maxwell A., and Brian W. Tomlin. The Making of NAFTA: How the Deal Was Done (2000), scholarly study.
  • Caulfield, Norman. NAFTA and Labor in North America (2009)
  • Chambers, Edward J., and Peter H. Smith, eds. NAFTA in the New Millennium. (2002) 520 pp. scholarly studies on trade, labor, migration, transport, and the environment.

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