AFP, Ottawa :
US President Donald Trump on Thursday again lambasted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling it a “one-sided deal” that cost the United States jobs and generated a $60 billion trade deficit with Mexico.
Trump has demanded that the deal be renegotiated or, failing that, scrapped, but the 23-year-old pact has significantly boosted trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The following explains what NAFTA entails, who benefits-and who would lose if the agreement were to be changed.
The agreement came into force in 1994 and remains one of the most important trade pacts in the world, allowing nearly unfettered access for goods and services to a combined market of 478 million people in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It was negotiated by the Republican administration of George H.W. Bush but was signed by his Democratic successor Bill Clinton.
It replaced a 1989 bilateral free trade agreement between Canada and the United States, which Ottawa has said it will fall back on if NAFTA is ripped up.
NAFTA removed most tariffs on goods traded between the three partners, liberalized investment rules and allowed greater movement of workers between the countries.
Some goods are exempted from the accord, such as softwood lumber, which Canada and the United States have repeatedly fought over.
Prior to Trump’s election, officials in the three countries routinely promoted free trade, notably praising their close ties under NAFTA, saying the accord had created jobs and wealth.
According to the NAFTA secretariat, nearly 40 million new jobs were created, including 25 million in the United States, over the first 15 years after the pact was ratified.
Canada raked in the largest share of foreign investment, ahead of the United States and Mexico.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday again lambasted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling it a “one-sided deal” that cost the United States jobs and generated a $60 billion trade deficit with Mexico.
Trump has demanded that the deal be renegotiated or, failing that, scrapped, but the 23-year-old pact has significantly boosted trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The following explains what NAFTA entails, who benefits-and who would lose if the agreement were to be changed.
The agreement came into force in 1994 and remains one of the most important trade pacts in the world, allowing nearly unfettered access for goods and services to a combined market of 478 million people in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It was negotiated by the Republican administration of George H.W. Bush but was signed by his Democratic successor Bill Clinton.
It replaced a 1989 bilateral free trade agreement between Canada and the United States, which Ottawa has said it will fall back on if NAFTA is ripped up.
NAFTA removed most tariffs on goods traded between the three partners, liberalized investment rules and allowed greater movement of workers between the countries.
Some goods are exempted from the accord, such as softwood lumber, which Canada and the United States have repeatedly fought over.
Prior to Trump’s election, officials in the three countries routinely promoted free trade, notably praising their close ties under NAFTA, saying the accord had created jobs and wealth.
According to the NAFTA secretariat, nearly 40 million new jobs were created, including 25 million in the United States, over the first 15 years after the pact was ratified.
Canada raked in the largest share of foreign investment, ahead of the United States and Mexico.
