When it comes to modern geopolitics, one of the most important kinds of policies is the trade policy. This is something that controls whether or not countries are able to conduct trade with one another. It’s very important to keep this in mind because if you’re unable to do so, you’ll be completely lost as to why most countries operate economically the way they do. One of the most well-known and controversial trade policies is NAFTA. It stands for the North American Free Trade Agreement. it is a policy that was negotiated between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. And while there are a lot of things good with it, there are also some bad things about it as well.
List of Pros of NAFTA
1. Free Trade
As the name implies, there is a lot of free trade benefits that come from NAFTA. This means that rather than having to pay a lot of money for tariffs, people can conduct trade rather easily. This saves companies a lot of money where they would otherwise have to pay a lot in trade taxes. This is a primary benefit to this sort of trade, but rather than having to be subject to it, most people bypass and ignore it.
2. Cheap Labor
NAFTA means that it can save companies a lot of money because it allows jobs to be shipped overseas for fewer dollars. When the three countries in the agreement decide to trade with each other it means that there is a considerable benefit that they will all benefit from by being able to use one another’s labor resources without investing a lot of money. This means it benefits a lot of the corporations that exist in both countries.
List of Cons of NAFTA
1. Job Loss
As far as the cons, job loss is a big one and possibly the most controversial regarding NAFTA. A lot of workers domestically will lose jobs because it’s cheaper to ship them overseas. This means that if you’re a worker in the USA, your job could easily be shipped off to Mexico because it simply saves the company more money.
2. Security Breaches
NAFTA means that travel in between in the countries is not as restricted. While it sounds good on paper, it opens up all of the countries to security risks, which is one of the major concerns involving travel from the United States to Mexico.
Brandon Miller has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a seasoned writer who has written over one hundred articles, which have been read by over 500,000 people. If you have any comments or concerns about this blog post, then please contact the Green Garage team here.