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A group of Mexican farmer leaders and academics believe that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, will be a good opportunity to review areas of the treaty that are not favorable to the sector in Mexico.
Experts say that after 23 years of its implementation, NAFTA, signed by Mexico, the United States and Canada in the early 90s, has helped dismantle Mexico's agricultural production system through neoliberal policies that have left millions of poor farmers without state support and have increased the country's food dependency on aboard, La Jornada reported Tuesday.
Since his presidential campaign, Trump has vowed to force Canada and Mexico to negotiate the trade deal saying it has been detrimental to the manufacturing industry in the United States, sending shocking waves of uncertainty for the already weakened Mexican economy.
[...] In the years that have followed the NAFT signing, the Mexican government has sold itself as a pro-business and lower-cost alternative for U.S. companies and in the process became a manufacturing powerhouse of cars, computers, aerospace technology and televisions.
However, the modernization process also helped dismantle the national agricultural system, which has practically disappeared, according to analysts and producers.
Source: teleSUR
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Friday December 30 2016, @05:37PM
As the article states, Mexico suffered losses due to NAFTA. I'm sure Canada did as well. There's no reason why it shouldn't be reviewed and renegotiated, since conditions have clearly changed. Granted, President-elect Trump hasn't been the most eloquent in stating the issue, but it does need to be addressed.
The only problem is whether the renegotiation will be in good faith by all parties. No, I didn't vote for him, but the fact is that Trump will be President, and so it behooves us to remain in contact with our Congressional representatives to at least try to make our voices heard.
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by caffeine on Friday December 30 2016, @11:50PM
I'm not sure any country can negotiate in good faith when dealing with an 800lb gorilla.
The US people may dislike free trade agreements, but they seem far worse when you are from the smaller country in the agreement.