NAFTA Has Practically Expelled Our Best Companies
Since the passage of NAFTA, the American economy, which was already stagnating, has gone downhill at an increasing clip. When we examine the details of the “free trade” agreement, it is easy to see why it has caused so much devastation.
Imagine for example that Congress enacted for the state of California alone a special law that:
- dropped the minimum wage to $4/hour
- exempted employers from child labor laws
- expanded the work week
- reduced health and workplace safety laws
- banned unions
- gave California exporters full, duty-free access to the rest of the states
Wouldn’t that be ridiculous? Well, that is exactly what NAFTA did for Mexico to the detriment of the entire United States. U.S. manufacturing cannot compete with these conditions.
In 1993 Ross Perot warned the U.S. that implementing NAFTA would result in a “giant sucking sound,” which would lead to American jobs vanishing across the border. Now, because of NAFTA, our manufacturing base is being sucked from the country. Why would anyone want to manufacture in the U.S.? It is fiscally impossible to compete with Mexico’s low labor costs and lack of environmental standards.
American workers are now forced to compete directly with Mexican workers who often make just over $4 per hour. Their American counterparts make $18 per hour. Why would any manufacturer want to produce here in the U.S. when the same product can be produced right across the border in Mexico for a small fraction of the cost and then shipped back to us duty- and restriction-free?
We had a small trade surplus with Mexico in 1993 before signing NAFTA. By 2011, that surplus had turned into a $103 billion deficit. The combined deficit with Canada and Mexico rose to $185 billion – an astounding 691% increase! Illegal immigrants in the U.S. increased to 23 million in 2010 from 3.9 million in 1993, an overall increase of over 590%. Since NAFTA was implemented, 300,000 American family farms have been put out of business. Overall, net farm incomes are down 13%.
It is obvious that NAFTA has been a disastrous failure for the U.S.
The cruel reality of NAFTA is that it does not benefit the American worker. In fact, it encourages the outsourcing of our jobs in pursuit of lower wage rates, non-existent environmental standards and “free trade” without restrictions. The nation’s continued participation in NAFTA results in fewer manufacturing jobs and an influx of foreign-produced goods.
NAFTA must be eliminated immediately! It was a disastrous mistake!