But then existing community banks take up the slack by lending to the borrowers spurned by the larger organization. Indeed, several community bankers have commented that they welcome the entry of large institutions into their markets via the acquisition route, seeing it as an opportunity to acquire some of the customer base that often is lost by the newly acquired bank.
We could also work towards broadening NAFTA coverage to include agricultural products, although there are clear difficulties in this area. And we could work to remove barriers to trade in cultural, legal, financial, and communication services, although, here again, harmonizing regulatory regimes at the federal and state/provincial levels would be very difficult.