THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IS AN AGREEMENT SIGNED BY CANADA,MEXICO,AND THE UNITED STATES,CREATING A TRILATERAL TRADE BLOC IN NORTH AMERICA.THE AGREEMENT CAME INTO FORCE ON 1,JANUARY 1994.IT SUPERSEDED THE CANADA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE US AND CANADA.
NAFTA HAS TWO SUPPLEMENTS:THE NORTH AMERICAN AGREEMENT ON ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION [NAAEC] AND THE NORTH AGREEMENT ON LABOR COOPERATION [NAALC].
MOST ECONOMIC ANALYSES INDICATE THAT NAFTA HAS BEEN BENEFICIAL TO THE NORTH AMERICAN ECONOMIES AND THE AVERAGE CITIZEN,BUT HARMED A SMALL MINORITY OF WORKERS IN INDUSTRIES EXPOSED TO TRADE COMPETITION.ECONOMISTS HOLD THAT WITHDRAWING FROM NAFTA OR RENEGOTIATING NAFTA IN A WAY THAT REESTABLISHES TRADE BARRIERS WILL ADVERSELY AFFECT THE US ECONOMY AND COST JOBS.

PROVISIONS
THE GOAL OF NAFTA WAS TO ELIMINATE BARRIERS TO TRADE AND INVESTMENT BETWEEN THE U.S.,CANADA AND MEXICO.THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NAFTA ON JANUARY 1,1994 BROUGHT THE IMMEDIATE ELIMINATION OF TARIFFS ON MORE THAN ONE-HALF OF MEXICO'S EXPORTS TO THE U.S. AND MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF U.S. EXPORTS TO MEXICO.WITHIN 10 YEARS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT,ALL U.S. MEXICO TARIFFS WOULD BE ELIMINATED EXCEPT FOR SOME U.S. AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS TO MEXICO THAT WERE TO BE PHASED OUT WITHIN 15 YEARS.MOST U.S. CANADA TRADE WAS ALREADY DUTY-FREE.NAFTA ALSO SOUHT TO ELIMATE NON-TARIFFTRADE BARRIERS AND TO PROTECT THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ON TRADED PRODUCTS.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT MADE SOME CHANGES,FORE SHADOWING THE URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENTS ACT OF 1994 BY RESTORE COPYRIGHT [WITHIN THE NAFTA NATIONS]ON CERTAIN MOTION PICTURES WHICH HAD ENTERED THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

AGRICULTURE
FROM THE EARLIEST NEGOTIATION,AGRICULTURE WAS [AND STILL WAS] A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC WITHIN NAFTA,AS IT HAS BEEN WITH ALMOST ALL FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN SIGNED WITHIN THE WTO FRAMEWORK.AGRICULTURE IS THE ONLY SECTION THAT WAS NOT NEGOTIATED TRILATERALLY,INSTEAD,THREE SEPARATE AGREEEMNTS WERE SIGNED BETWEEN EACH PAIR OF PARTIES.THE CANADA-U.S. AGREEMENT CONTAINS SIGNIFICANT RESTRICTIONS AND TARIFF QUOTAS ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS [MAINLY SUGAR,DAIRY,AND POULTRY PRODUCTS],WHEREAS THE MEXICO-U.S. PACT ALLOWS FOR A WIDER LIBERALIZATION WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF PHASE-OUT PERIODS [IT WAS THE FIRST NORTH-SOUTH FTA ON AGRICULTURE TO BE SIGNED].


TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE
NAFTA ESTABLISHED THE CANAMEX CORRIDOR FOR ROAD TRANSPORT BETWEEN CANADA AND MEXICO.ALSO PROPOSED FOR USE BY RAIL,PIPELONE,AND FIBER OPTIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE.
THIS BECAME A HIGH PRIORITY CORRIDOR UNDER THE U.S. INTERMODAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY ACT OF 1991.




INVESTMENT
THE U.S. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT [FD] IN NAFTA COUNTRIES [STOCK] WAS $327.5 BILLION IN 2009 [LATEST DATA AVAILABLE],UP 8.8% FROM 2008.THE U.S. DIRECT INVESTMENT IN NAFTA COUNTRIES IS IN NONBANK HOLDING COMPANIES,AND IN THE MANUFACTURING,FINANCE/INSURANCE,AND MINING SECTORS.THE FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT OF CANADA AND MEXICO IN THE UNITED STATES [STOCK] WAS $237.2 BILLION IN 2009 [THE LATEST DATA AVAILABLE],UP 16.5% FROM 2008.