Since the beginning of his electoral campaign in 2016, American President Donald Trump has been adamantly critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new Trump administration has stressed the need for increased protectionist measures for the sake of the American economy - indicating a shift away from the globalization of trade that spurned the creation of NAFTA. With its days perhaps numbered, determining the impact of NAFTA on its signatories country is crucial.The aim of this essay will be to show that since its implementation, the economic policies of NAFTA have been relatively beneficial for Canada, with the exceptions of the clauses of Chapter 11 concerning investor-state disputes. Chapter 11, beyond costing the Canadian government …show more content…
The agreement was an extension of the previous Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed by Canada and the US in 1989 (Hufbaur & Schott, 2). The FTA was a groundbreaking bilateral agreement which eliminated tariffs on exports between Canada and the US and aimed a increasing exports and imports between the two nations (Hufbaur & Schott, 2). NAFTA was a improved extension of the previous FTA, which extended on further eliminating barriers to trade and including Mexico. Signatories of NAFTA were granted the status of ‘most-favoured-nation’, creating a trade bloc within the three North American countries. The aim of NAFTA was to enhance the access and flow to goods and services between the signatory countries by eliminating various barriers to trade and investment (Hufbaur & Schott, 3). NAFTA eliminated tariffs on imports and exports with rules of trade on specific sectors such as agriculture or the automobile industry. Agricultural exports between the US and Mexico were eliminated either immediately or within a 15 year period following its implementation (M. Angeles Villarreal & Ian F. Fergusson). Exports between the US and Canada had already been eliminated by the FTA in 1998, with the exceptions of Canadian agricultural goods such as dairy, poultry and the sugar products (Hufbaur & Schott, 6). Later additions to NAFTA included provisions labour and environmental