Origin of the free trade agreement
TLCAN
NAFTA was signed between the governments of the United States of America, Canada and Mexico, with the purpose of boosting trade in North America. NAFTA was signed in 1993, but entered into force in 1994 and with it, the economic growth of the three countries, through the systematic elimination of most tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment, making accessible the cross-border movement of goods and services between the territories.
NAFTA’s objectives are to:
– Create employment opportunities and improve economic performance.
– Increase investment opportunities among the Member Countries.
– Remove barriers to trade.
– To protect and enforce intellectual property rights among member countries.
– Create conditions of fair competition in the free trade zone.
– Reduce costs and increase consumer choice.
This has benefited businesses, consumers, families and workers in NAFTA member countries, which is why trade among NAFTA countries has grown 128% since the agreement went into effect, from US$297 billion in 1994 to US$676 billion in 2000.
The three nations trade $1.8 billion dollars trilaterally every day.
Renegotiation of NAFTA.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has several ways to get the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, despite this, he is trying to update NAFTA to achieve better conditions for his country through renegotiation between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
For this reason, the Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal says that Mexico must be ready for anything and that the objectives for the renegotiation are clear and precise.
Mexico’s NAFTA negotiating team.
On August 2, 2017, the Secretary of Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, informed that the team would be made up of Keneth Smith, director of the NAFTA office at the Mexican embassy in Washington, as the country’s technical head in the negotiation, as well as Juan Carlos Baker, current undersecretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy, and Salvador Behar, director for North America at the same agency.
The priorities for this negotiation were officially announced and are governed by four pillars.
The first is to strengthen competitiveness in the region, followed by a more inclusive and responsible trade with respect to the economic dynamics of the 21st century and that promotes certainty in the exchange of goods and services, as well as investments.
Keneth Smith: He is currently the head of the Trade and NAFTA Office of the Mexican Ministry of Economy in Washington. This office is in charge of promoting the trade relationship between Mexico and the United States, as well as ensuring the proper implementation of NAFTA.
Kenneth Smith holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Georgetown University and an M.A. in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University.
Juan Carlos Baker: He is currently Undersecretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He holds a degree in International Trade from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Campus Monterrey and completed advanced studies in Political Economy at the University of Warwick, England.
Salvador Behar: He is currently General Director for North America at the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economy.
He studied law at the Universidad Iberoamericana, holds a Master’s degree in Corporate Law from the same university and a Master’s degree in U.S. Law from Georgetown University.
Source
North American Free Trade Agreement.
http://creditum.mx/
