Win with NAFTA

Being a student in Professor Roberto Garcia's D301 International Business class, I have to say that I am shocked at the claim that NAFTA has done nothing but make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Free trade opens many doors that are not there when governments chose to interfere with trade.\nIt is true that many manufacturing jobs from the United States and Canada have gone to Mexico since the introduction of NAFTA in 1994. What the article fails to mention is that those manufacturing jobs have been leaving the country long before NAFTA. But instead of setting up shop just across the border, manufacturing jobs were being moved overseas. In addition to manufacturing jobs leaving the United States, many more jobs in other sectors of business have been created since NAFTA has been put into effect.\nErasing the borders and creating free trade does more than just benefits the businesses involved. Consumers also win when there is free trade. When a company does not have production of its products domestically it has to pay for the importation. Not only the transportation fees but the tariffs that countries place on the product. Those costs are then passed along to consumers. But NAFTA actually helps reduce some of those costs that consumers have to eat. Most of the parts to make the products made in the United States are produced in Mexico. By moving the final manufacturing of products there reduces the costs that the company has to pay. Also, with free trade there are no tariffs that are placed on goods coming into the country so consumers do not have to make up the difference that companies pay. Free trade agreements like NAFTA also encourage competition. With competition consumers also not only see the benefits by lower prices, but also reap the benefits of increased product innovation.\nJust as with many other things, success does not happen over night. NAFTA is something that over time will prove to be beneficial to many even if at first it may not be easy to see. Understanding the effects of what free trade can have for a country is important to opening the doors.