The NAFTA Intellect Disconnect: Actual Costs and Benefits versus Popular Perceptions

Abstract

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was initiated during the Republican administration of George H.W. Bush and completed during the Democrat administration of Bill Clinton, has been studied intensively since it went into effect in 1994. Although an objective review of the literature suggests that NAFTA’s overall effects have been small but positive for both Mexico and the United States, Donald Trump has called it the “worst trade agreement ever.” Others have claimed that NAFTA benefits Mexico at the expense of the United States. This brief revisits the evidence surrounding NAFTA, in particular, and free trade agreements, in general.