What concerns did Mexican and U.S citizens have about the implementation of NAFTA, and were those concerns ultimately justified?
NAFTA was already controversial before it went into effect in, and it remains so today. Among US citizens, there were fears that factories would close down and jobs would flow south to Mexico. American environmentalists feared that the US environment would suffer because Mexican factories and other polluters, unable to afford the cleanup of their industries, would set new and lower standards that US companies could then match. Mexican officials feared that a surge in their consumption of American- made products would so increase their trade deficit with the United States that Mexico's monetary reserves would be exhausted.
Answers will vary when students discuss justification. Key facts include:
• Some US factories did close, in part because production was cheaper south of the border—notably in the maquiladora (automobile) factories —but NAFTA was not the exclusive cause of the shutdowns.
• Lower-cost manufacturing for American companies did shift to a host of countries outside NAFTA and the Western Hemisphere, but NAFTA rules buffered the impacts of those moves.
• American exports to Mexico were given a boost by NAFTA, as Mexican tariffs on American goods were reduced.
• NAFTA did create more manufacturing jobs in Mexico, especially in the motor vehicles industry.
• Exports from Mexico to the United States have more than tripled since NAFTA went into effect in 1994 . This bilateral trade is in Mexico's favor, with imports from Mexico exceeding exports to Mexico by 20 percent.
• NAFTA gradually eliminated most Mexican tariffs on agricultural imports from the United States, with favorable results for American producers.
• The United States had a strong if perhaps understated NAFTA goal of reducing Mexican immigration into the United States by boosting Mexico's prosperity.
• In sum, in the United States and Canada, NAFTA has been beneficial to farmers but not to factory workers, while the reverse is true in Mexico.
You might also like to view...
The greatest threat to most species is
A. the destruction of habitats. B. water pollution. C. parasites. D. the buildup of toxic substances in food chains. E. flooding.
Which of the following processes occurs when an anticyclone develops?
A. The anticyclone is causing a middle-latitude storm to form. B. Separate anticyclones are merging. C. The anticyclone is moving toward the east coast. D. The central pressure is increasing.
A hanging valley forms from the eroded valley of a tributary valley glacier that met the trunk valley
glacier at an elevation high above the valley floor of the latter. What will be an ideal response?
Which of the following best describes an invasive species?
A) Non-native species become invasive when they become established in a new area, taking over niches that were already occupied by native species. B) An invasive species is any non-native introduced species, whether it becomes established or not. C) Approximately 90% of all introduced non-native species become invasive species. D) Dispersal, even if anthropogenic, is a normal biogeographic process and, therefore, no cause of alarm.