NAFTA's Failures Finally Get Air Time Thanks to Trump Louis Nevaer - New America Media
go to original July 17, 2016

In this special episode of the 2016 Summer Solutions series of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy talk to John Ackerman, professor, columnist and the Mexican Law Review’s editor-in-chief, about the economic relationship between Mexico and the United States. (Keiser Report)

The last time Mexico took center stage in American politics was Sept. 6, 2001, when George W. Bush watched Mexican President Vicente Fox address a joint session of Congress in the nation’s capital.

Bush and Fox were friends, ranchers, businessmen, and came from the same rugged landscape that made their working together a done deal.

Both men were determined to take the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the next step by addressing the limitations and flaws in that agreement. The limitations were political (no free movement of people across borders) and economic (no single currency for the United States, Canada, and Mexico).

George W. Bush envisioned an administration that would work to make the United States, Canada, and Mexico more competitive on a global scale.

It’s important to recall why NAFTA was created in the first place: as a response to the European Union (EU). The EU sought to make Europe an economic powerhouse: economic coordination, a single currency, the laissez-faire movement of labor across borders.



As someone involved in the discussions surrounding NAFTA, I understood that there would be market failures: Without a development bank, how would displaced American workers be retrained for new jobs in the IT economy? Without comprehensive immigration reform, how would a porous border be made to operate in a way that responded to needs of people and seasonal economic fluctuations?

In 2004 I wrote a book that offered policies to mitigate NAFTA’s shortcoming. The book, NAFTA'S Second Decade: Assessing Opportunities in the Mexican and Canadian Markets, was well-received. But none of its recommendations were ever implemented.

What happened?

Five days after Vicente Fox received a standing ovation in the halls of Congress, terrorists struck on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Bush’s ambitious NAFTA plans were scrapped as the United States launched a War on Terror. Throughout 2002, the United States rallied support for war. In March 2003 the United States invaded Iraq. When my book came out, greater integration with Canada and Mexico - which implied loosening borders - was the last thing anyone in Washington cared to consider.

Now, 15 years later, NAFTA’s market failures and structural limitations have festered sores that Donald Trump has masterfully pointed out.

Trump’s rhetoric against Mexico - building walls, deporting millions, seizing remittances - have caused alarm among Mexican officials. An “Emergencia Trump” has been declared: Mexico’s president replaced its ambassador in Washington, sending in a tough, no-nonsense diplomat who is expected to speak up against Trump, an advertising campaign to improve Mexico’s image among the American public has been launched, and politicians are scrambling for “what if” plans should Trump enter the White House.

But Trump has also started a conversation about what is good about NAFTA, what is bad about NAFTA, and what needs to be changed.

Read the rest at New America Media

Related: How NAFTA Created Poverty and Desperate Mexican Migration (Accuracy.org)

Related: Mexican Activist Says NAFTA Should Act as a Warning Against TPP (teleSUR)

Related: Why NAFTA and other trade deals are not really about trade (Dallas News)

Related: Trump’s Anti-Nafta Myths Are Catching on in Canada, Unfortunately (Financial Post)

Related: Democrats Must Fight to Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Common Dreams)

Related: 'Disastrous': Trump's Anti-Trade Policies Could Severely Damage Global Growth, Warns IMF Chief Christine Lagarde (Daily Mail)

Related: The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Deal That Sanders, Clinton and Trump All Oppose (Truthout)

Related: TransCanada Lawsuit Highlights Need to Scuttle TPP (MSNBC)

Related: Exposing Trump’s Trade Appeal to Working-Class Voters for What It Is (AlterNet)

Related: Failed EU Should Serve as a Warning Against a North American Union (Economic Collapse News)

Related: Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ Caps Might Not Be Made in the USA (NYMag.com)

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