The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a treaty between the United States, Canada and Mexico; it entered into force on 1 January 1994. (Free trade had existed between the United States and Canada since 1989; NAFTA expanded this agreement.) On that day, the three countries became the largest free market in the world – the combined economies of the three nations at that time were worth $6 trillion and directly affected more than 365 million people. NAFTA was created to remove barriers to agriculture, production and services; removing investment restrictions; and the protection of intellectual property rights. This should be done taking into account environmental and labour concerns (although many observers have been at the expense of the three governments since the entry into force of the agreement have been negligent in ensuring measures to protect the environment and safety at work). Small businesses were among those expected to benefit most from the reduction of trade barriers, as it would make it cheaper to operate in Mexico and Canada and reduce bureaucracy for importing or exporting goods. NAFTA had three key advantages. U.S. food prices were lower due to duty-free imports from Mexico. Oil imported from Canada and Mexico prevented gas prices from rising. NAFTA has also increased trade and economic growth for all three countries. The political divide has been particularly wide in terms of views on free trade with Mexico. Contrary to a favorable view of free trade with Canada, which 79 percent of Americans called a fair trading partner, only 47 percent of Americans thought Mexico was doing fair trade. The gap between Democrats and Republicans has widened: 60 percent of Democrats thought Mexico was doing fair trade, while only 28 percent of Republicans did.
It was the highest value of Democrats and the lowest value of Republicans ever recorded by the Chicago Council survey. Republicans had more negative views of Canada than fair trading partners than Democrats. [160] In the late 1990s, controversy over the treaty`s environmental enforcement provisions remained strong. Indeed, North American trade interests have attempted to weaken an important NAFTA secondary agreement on environmental protection and enforcement. This agreement – one of the few provisions welcomed by environmental groups – allows groups and ordinary citizens to accuse Member States of failing to enforce their own environmental laws. A trinational commission for environmental cooperation is responsible for investigating these allegations and making public reports. .