Although NAFTA did open trade boundaries between the
US, Mexico, and Canada, I do not believe it has been a success because it has
predominantly benefited one country at the expense of another’s. The US did establish
numerous of factories within Mexico and provided them with millions of jobs,
but they are jobs in which employees are overworked, underpaid, and exposed to
hazardous material. Not to mention that the wastes from the factories themselves
pollute the air quality and lower the living standards within Mexico. Therefore, NAFTA is
doing more harm than good. The treaty has not created equality nor cultural interchanges, but it has disparaged a
country, Mexico, while another, the US, further increases its profits due to
cheap labor. Mexico's economy is only being subjected to more control by US-owned corporations. The NAFTA treaty should be renegotiated and require US owned
corporations to pay Mexican factory workers a lawful minimum wage and establish
factory compliances for worker's safety as well as health.
I would be supportive of NAFTA if there were certain changes to the agreement, such as: improved working conditions, increased pay (respective to cost of living), and environmental control. Some of these changes can greatly alter the perspective people have against NAFTA. I don't believe NAFTA helped U.S, Mexico, and Canada equally but I do think that each has benefited greatly from the creation of NAFTA. Mexico may be getting the short end of the stick, but they are housing the factors of U.S corporations and that means that money is flowing into Mexico. When there is cash flow into Mexico, regardless the amount, there is a more active economy. Even with all the pros that can be thought of, I still believe that there are more cons to outweigh the pros resulting in a renegotiation of NAFTA.
ReplyDeleteNAFTA seemed to be a good idea, just like all other government ideas but of course it would benefit the United States because they came up with the idea. NAFTA was designed to look like it would equally benefit all players, but when one player holds more cards, or in this case more money and control, then they make the rules. For example, in the presentation it is noted that NAFTA allows oil for gas to be less expensive for Americans but what does that mean for the people in Mexico? The United States saves money but Mexico does not really make any money.
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