NAFTA had the effect of wiping out the rural Mexican small farmers who couldn’t compete with American corn prices. And huge numbers of them came north across the border.
NAFTA is also in the process of letting Mexican trucks operate in the USA at will, not just taking loads north across the border.
It’s my hope that those who push and promote NAFTA get to enjoy having their neighborhoods turned into illegal alien camps, and that they get to personally encounter the diving standards of Mexico. They deserve it.
AGREED!
If you can come up with nothing but such allegations then you have no real argument against NAFTA. Protectionist policies always protects SOME ONE, farmer, workers, capitalists, some one. But they also always exploit the whole and always cause someone ELSE to pay for the protection.
Farmers leaving the land are more likely to wind up working in Mexican factories set up to benefit from NAFTA than they are to make the dangerous and expansive trip North where hiring is way down. Only by encouraging economic growth there can Mexico provide enough jobs in Mexico to keep Mexicans there.
I understand you don’t believe it but Free Trade improves life in both countries. It is one of the few theories that almost every economist (no matter his ideology) believes to be true. And its logic is unassailable.