Write a short essay on the North American Free Trade Agreement and other Latin American Agreements.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - When agreements in key issues covered by the NAFTA were reached by the Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. governments in 1992, a vast economic bloc was created. As of 2010, it remains the largest trade bloc in the world in terms of combined gross domestic product of its members. Between 1994 and 2007 merchandise trade between the United States and Canada and Mexico increased from 4.4 percent to 6.6 percent. Eliminating the barriers to free trade (tariffs, import licensing requirements, customs user fees) has strengthened the economic power of all three countries, but not equally. Mexico, especially, has struggled to prosper from free trade. Although Mexico's exports increased dramatically under NAFTA, large numbers of people still migrate to the United States in search of jobs and prosperity.
Other Latin American nations have become part of the free trade blocs, as well. Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela led the way when all three signed an economic pact in 1994 eliminating import duties and tariffs. Another agreement, the U.S.--Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), promotes trade liberalization between the United States and five Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. However, only El Salvador and Costa Rica have joined. The other countries have yet to change laws to be in line with the agreement. 
Negotiators from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere continue work on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement, which was to have been operational no later than 2005, a missed targeted deadline. However, another free trade bloc of 10 South American countries known as the Southern Common Market or Mercosur already exists. Some South Americans see Mercosur as an effective way to combine resources to better compete against other global economic powers, especially the EU and NAFTA.