THE NEW GOSPEL North American Free Trade
THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEment, NAFTA, which promises to unite Mexico, Canada and the United States in an economic union nearly as ambitious as Europe 1992, will permanently alter...
...By far the worst dislocations are to be suffered by poor and working people in Mexico and Canada-with benefits accruing to the transnational elite...
...Yet each masks the complexity of the accord's implications for immigration patterns, environmental policy, health and education, culture, and labor rights-none of which can be clearly foreseen...
...Although the accord is framed in terms of deregulation, it could provide a format for regulating-with social, labor and environmental guidelines-the seemingly inevitable process of economic integration...
...In the long term, even a pro-business pact will bring closer ties between the peoples of North America, offering an opportunity for progressive alliances across both borders...
...Even with free trade, different national policies could limit the damage and redistribute the benefits...
...More than a common market, NAFTA implies a dramatic reorganization of the regional production system for many key manufactures...
...David Barkin confirms that while NAFTA masquerades as a purely commercial accord, it is part and parcel-and a logical extension---of the broader neoconservative (known in Mexico as neoliberal) political and social agenda being pursued by all three administrations...
...Barkin lays out one such option for Mexico...
...For the near future, however, without a social charter and without the political will in either Canada or Mexico to enforce their own, free trade will facilitate the transfer of power over economic development from governments to the private sector, to the detriment of working people and the environment...
...But his narrow view of "modernization" is systematically closing off opportunities for the majority, rendering the country incapable of providing for the basic needs of its people, while depriving them of the ability to provide for themselves...
...While banking on the longterm development of the Mexican consumer market, U.S...
...In the absence of an accompanying social charter, free trade has been used by the Mulroney Administration and its business allies as a tool to ratchet down rights, standards and social programs, gutting the state's capacity to set and enforce policies that dictate how business must be conducted...
...President Salinas' radical about-face in development policy may well transform Mexico into a full and celebrated member of the world marketplace...
...takeovers of Canadian firms are at record highs...
...Bruce Campbell paints a dire picture of free trade's effects on Canada, where traditionally higher wage scales, benefit packages and social standards have fallen prey to the pressure to "harmonize" the rules of competition to the lowest common denominator...
...Orme argues that the free trade accord itself, which is still subject to the pressure advocacy groups can bring to bear in Congress, could become a vehicle for an alternative vision...
...business is primarily pursuing Mexico as a low-cost production center, William A. Orme Jr...
...T HE 1988 FREE TRADE PACT WITH CANADA will form the basis for the new accord...
...Spawning such a crossborder industrial belt, Orme notes, may well exacerbate the north-south disparities at the root of each country's deepest historic conflict--just as free trade has already seriously weakened Canada's east-west federation in favor of north-south ties...
...The accord will accelerate the transfer of operations from the old industrial centers of northeastern United States and central Canada, to the border region of northern Mexico and southwestern United States...
...and Canadian unions and certain business interests, as well as environmentalists and human rights advocates from all three countries, insist that free trade will encourage runaway shops, undercut labor and environmental standards, and reinforce Mexico and Canada's subordinate position in continental affairs...
...The economic integration of North America reflects the skewed power relationships between countries and social classes...
...Beyond transforming where and how goods are produced, it will set a pattern for a new relationship among the peoples of the three nations and define a new vision for our collective future...
...corporations with branch plants in Canada have consolidated operations in the U.S...
...points out...
...Proponents, including most major U.S., Canadian and Mexican firms, claim NAFTA will create jobs, lower consumer prices, and stimulate economic growth...
...Each view is right...
...Opponents, made up of U.S...
...This is not inevitable...
...THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEment, NAFTA, which promises to unite Mexico, Canada and the United States in an economic union nearly as ambitious as Europe 1992, will permanently alter the face of the continent...
...South or northern Mexico, and U.S...
Vol. 24 • May 1991 • No. 6
