We Still Need Free Trade

Today many Americans are upset with the free trade agreements that have been considered a hallmark success of most federal administrations since WWII.  The most well known of these agreements is NAFTA.  The North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented in December 1993.  I was a supporter of NAFTA because I believed it would benefit our neighbors at little cost to American workers or industry.  I must admit I was wrong.

NAFTA did not sufficiently improve opportunities for Mexican workers nor did it reduce the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.  Canada is the United States number one trading partner. Canada exported US$303.4 billion worth of merchandise to the United States in 2006, up 4.5% from 2005 and up 45% in just 4 years.  Canadian imports from the U.S. rose 8.7% to $230.3 billion in 2006, up 43.1% since 2002.  To learn more about trade  between Canada & America  go to http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/canadas_top_exports_imports#ixzz0C2OW5tCR.  Trade did triple in total dollars since implementation of NAFTA through 2007.  The dollar amount was approaching $1 trillion.  Outsourced Logistics reports that the recession has resulted in surface transportation trade falling by over 27% in year over year survey this past January.

The opposite of our trade relations with other countries is the Smoot-Hawley tariff laws enacted in 1930.  The U.S. Department of State explains the effects of different kinds of taxing laws.

This puts me in a difficult position.  I want to support international trade but I want a U.S. manufacturing base.  The government can develop laws that will encourage manufacturing to stay in the United States but gives free enterprise the right to manufacture their products in another country.  Unfortunately politics will play too big a part in the conclusion of this issue.