Trump Ending NAFTA Would Be A Mistake
In the article
above, Trump threatens to pull out of NAFTA if he can’t negotiate better terms
with Mexico and Canada. He claims that it has cost millions of Americans their
jobs and calls it the “worst trade deal in history.” He wants to ensure that we
put “America first,” and to do that we must limit U.S. involvement in global
trade. He plans on putting tariffs on the U.S. largest trading partners and going after American companies like Ford, that build across the boarder.
Trump claims that NAFTA has destroyed our country by taking good-paying manufacturing jobs across the boarder. His argument that the amount of jobs lost is due to NAFTA is inaccurate. There are other issues like the growth of technology that has eliminated jobs as well. The technology change has been a big factor in why many Americans have been let go. It has boosted productivity and requires more skills and training, so for the less-educated Americans it leaves them with no other option but to be without a job. Terminating NAFTA, as Trump wished would only hurt the U.S. Eliminating the deal would not guarantee jobs back and the U.S. could potentially end up losing more because of it. Trump wants to attack American companies like Ford by threatening to tax 35% on the cars made in Mexico and sold in the U.S. However, that would only end up hurting American consumers, rather than helping them as he claims. Although Ford will be opening up over 2,000 jobs in Mexico, they will not be terminating any U.S. jobs.
Trump like many others who agree with this notion are missing the advantages that NAFTA has provided. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico have quadrupled from $297 billion to $1.14 trillion since the deal unfolded. That alone allowed a boost in profits, jobs and economic growth for all three countries. NAFTA also eliminated all tariffs between all three countries and reduced the cost of trade. That benefited consumers by lowering prices. The sectors that benefited from the economic growth were largely agriculture, automobiles, and services. This makes everything more globally oriented. Without trade deals, America would lose access to overseas markets. Despite the fact that Trump thinks NAFTA has cost American their jobs, it has actually provide countless jobs for Americans as well.
Whether or not Trump decides to pull out from NAFTA or negotiate a "better deal," he is not all to certain on what the implications of this would actually be. The bottom line is that terminating NAFTA would just end up hurting the U.S. more than benefiting it and helping it grow.
Although you are advocating that NAFTA is good, don't you think that it is contributing to wages disparities between Americans and Mexicans? We are getting paid about 6 x more than them per hour, that is why so many companies have their factories on foreign soil; its so much cheaper. Moreover,our trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has increased significantly after the signing of NAFTA. It is hurting us. Overall, this foreign outsourcing encourages more toxic imports and foreign immigration. NAFTA is for jobs leaving our country and creating environmentally unsafe factories with no trade restrictions. I do not think it is as great as it appears to be.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly flaws with NAFTA; however, businesses will always go to where the work is cheaper. It can be argued if this is moral or not, but from an unbiased standpoint it is a fact. Pulling out of NAFTA will drastically hurt the consumer. If Trump wants to help America, what he is planning on doing will not work. Goods will be increasingly more expensive. You can argue that outsourcing hurts jobs, free trade agreements can be positive if handled the right way. Trump thinks he can make it better, but he never has concrete policy recommendations.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Maggie. I think that Trump's plan on pulling out of NAFTA will ultimately do more harm than good. I agree with you that if trade agreements were handled in a better way, we wouldn't even be having this problem. I think that is what we must focus on, instead of jumping to get rid of it all together.
DeleteYes, but how can the consumer afford goods now if most do not have a job due to outsourcing? Bringing more jobs home might make up for the increase in the cost of goods. As stated before, the WTO has a flawed enforcement system. Why stay in NAFTA if its hurting us? In the mean time, while a part of it our trade deficit is astronomical.
ReplyDelete