How to improve NAFTA
A threat to free trade in North America has turned into an opportunity to boost it
IN 1994 America’s economy was barely three years into its longest post-war expansion. Oil production fell to its lowest level for 40 years. Shares in a Steve Jobs-less Apple could be picked up for little more than a dollar; Jeff Bezos left his job at a hedge fund to set up a new kind of retailer, after learning of the fast-growing use of the internet. At the start of that year the North America Free-Trade Agreement came into force. It committed America, Canada and Mexico to eliminate most of the tariffs on goods between them within a decade.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Modernising NAFTA”
From the August 19th 2017 edition
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