Support North American Free Trade Agreement

Support North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement seems to have more benefits than downfalls. I would have to support NAFTA, as it has had a very positive advantage for the U.S. The NAFTA not only helped U.S. agriculture exports grow by more than 50%, but also provides jobs for more than 250,000 people. While NAFTA eliminates or reduces tariffs and trade barriers between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, the U.S. is not the only economy that benefits from NAFTA. As a result of NAFTA, all three countries have dismantled trade barriers which have integrated the market for these three countries. The three countries are each other's number one and two top export markets.

The U.S. agriculture sector has dramatically improved since the implementation of NAFTA. For example, the agriculture trade between the U.S. and Mexico has increased by at least 150 percent from 1993 to 2005 and the agriculture exports from Mexico to the U.S. has more than tripled since the start of NAFTA. I also support NAFTA because it does not force, or require the participating countries to become integrated into one monetary system, or any other social or political aspects.

There are several negative aspects that have been mentioned about NAFTA and its effects on the other countries, mainly Mexico. There are issues that NAFTA has encouraged immigration and that the illegal residents are stealing jobs in the agriculture sector, which makes the U.S. unemployment very higher than ever. There are also concerns that the agreement has caused many farmers in Mexico to go out of business due to the growing costs of supporting the agriculture market. While these issues are relevant and important to deal with, it seems that NAFTA has made very beneficial marks on all three countries, and the negative issues are something that must be dealt with by each individual country, or as a joint effort, if so desired by the participating countries. Although there may be some downfalls to NAFTA, I would have to say that there are more benefits.