what does NAFTA do exactly?
I know NAFTA is the north american free trade agreement and removes tariffs on imports/exports. but how does that work ? i still pay a duty when i buy stuff from the states and bring it home. where does NAFTA come in ?
also, did this agreement even benefit canada? how? the most i can tell is we lost a good chunk of the manufacturing secter to mexico.
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Canada’s NAFTA exports have grown substantially, and have been particularly successful in high value–added sectors such as automotive equipment(trucks, cars and parts), machinery and parts and industrial goods.
In 1998, total three–way trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States rose to about $752 billion, with Canada–U.S. and Canada–Mexico trade accounting for $484 billion (Sources: Statistics Canada, U.S. Department of Commerce and SECOFI). Since the implementation of the NAFTA, Canada’s trade with the United States has risen 80%, while trade with Mexico has doubled.
Canada’s NAFTA exports have likewise grown substantially, and have been particularly successful in high value added sectors such as automotive equipment (trucks, cars and parts), machinery and parts and industrial goods. In 1998, the growth alone in Canada’s exports to our NAFTA markets was roughly equal to the total value of our exports to Japan and to the 15 nations of the European Union (EU) combined. The growth in our NAFTA exports last year also more than offset the drop in exports to other important international markets, attributable to the financial crisis and its aftermath. Reflecting this trend, the share of exports to NAFTA partners in Canada’s total exports has increased from 80.8% in 1993 to 84.3% in 1998.
As NAFTA is a free trade area, you should not pay duty on goods from the country covered by the Association Agreement.
It allows factories to move to Mexico, pay low wages, not have to deal with the hundreds of US government regulations and agencies, like OSHA, EPA, etc. they save tons of money on manufacturing a product , that is sent back to us at the same price , it would cost to manufacture it here, they just pocket all the profits , say for example you make product ( in America or Canada)that cost you $100 and you have to sell it for $150 to make a profit, your competitor can make the same product in Mexico for $40 and if he wants , he can sell it for $90 and put you out of business or he can just coast along selling it for the same price you do $150, but you know that he can put you out of business anytime he wants to, so you have to move to Mexico to survive--NAFTA is really illegal , in the sense that we import a product that is not inspected in that country with same standards that we require of our industry , that it is produced in a country that does not protect it's workers with the same safety standards we do ( OSHA), that it is produced in a country that does not protect it's environment or it's products with the same standards we do ( EPA)*******************************************************
Basically, there are mexicans here in this country working illegally at lower wages stealing jobs and wages from legal working citizens.
The NAFTA treaty sends the remaining jobs to mexico so that the few mexicans that haven't come up here yet can have our jobs too.