Is There a NAFTA Plus?
| Author | María De Lourdes Dieck-Assad |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800312 |
| Published date | 01 September 2003 |
| Date | 01 September 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Couchiching Debates “The Big Idea” |
COUCHICHING
DEBATES
"THE
BIG
IDEA"
MARIA
DE
LOURDES
DIECK-ASSAD
Is
there
a
NAFTA
plus?
INTRODUCTION
When
some
newspapers,
on
6
February
1991,
printed
a
small
story
on
the
possibility
of
a
major
trade
agreement
between
Mexico,
Canada
and
the
United
States, very
few
people
took
the
news
seriously.
On
1
January
2004,
the
North
American
Free
Trade
Agreement
(NAFTA)-
l'Accord
de
libre-&hange
nord-am~ricain
(ALKNA)
or
Tratado
de
Libre
Comercio
de
Amirica
del
Norte
(TLCAN),
as
it
is
known in
the
North
American
region
and
throughout
the
world-will
reach
its
10th
anniversary.
It
will be
a
time
for
celebration
and
let me
give
you
10
good
reasons
why:
1)
According
to
Statistics
Canada,
in
the nine
years
since
NAFTA
entered into
force,
total
bilateral
trade
in goods
and
services
between
Canada
and
Mexico
has
tripled,
from
us$3.2
billion
by
the
end
of
1993,
to
us$9.5
billion
in
2002;
2)
Over the
same
period,
bilateral
trade
between
Mexico
and
the
United
States grew
183
per
cent, from
US$81.5
billion,
to
$231
bil-
lion in
2002,
according
to
the
US
Department
of
Commerce;
3)
In
2002,
66
cents
out
of
every
dollar
that
Mexico
paid
for
foreign
goods
and
services
were
spent
on
Canadian
and
us
products
and
services;
4)
Of
all
Canadian
imports,
66
per cent
come
from
Mexico
and
the
us,
while
only
3.6
per
cent
come
from
Mexico;
Maria
de
Lourdes
Dieck-Assad
is
the
Undersecretary
for
International
Economic Relations
and
International
Cooperation, Ministry
ofForeign
Relations
ofMexico.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer
2003
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