Some experts say the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, has caused more action politically and socially than economically.
Professors from around North America will discuss the successes and failures of NAFTA during an Oct. 16-17 conference at the MSU-DCL College of Law Building.
NAFTAis an agreement that gauranteed trading between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The event will feature critical analysis about the free-trade agreement created in 1992 between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Event organizer and MSU-DCL law Professor Kevin Kennedy said NAFTA increased the United States' gross domestic product by less than one percent. Although the economic results have not been impressive, he said the agreement had a deeper political impact.
"I see it as a political document," Kennedy said. "It has brought the U.S. and Mexico closer.
Not by a great leap, but as a result of NAFTA, we are closer than we ever have been politically."
University of Kansas law professor Raj Bhala, who will be speaking at the conference, said NAFTA is not a free-trade agreement because it's not a complete opening of trade.
Bhala said NAFTA worked as a trade managing tool in North America.
"When politicians sell an agreement under the name 'free trade,' it's typically a lie," Bhala said. "They either don't understand the details or are not telling the truth."
Bhala said NAFTA's countries strategically place tariffs on industries to protect their economic interests.
Bhala said, for example, if the United States placed a tariff on broccoli during the months when U.S. farmers' broccoli sells at supermarkets, they would keep foreign competition out.
Bhala said an industry-by-industry analysis is needed to see how these tariffs affect both countries. He said he feared the social ramifications of the tariffs would cause resentment from other countries.
"Every time we favor a sector here, we are disfavoring a sector overseas," he said. "What do (other nations) resort to? How do they make their money? How do they feel about us? These are questions we don't think of until it explodes in our face."
David Gantz, University of Arizona law professor and conference speaker, said the trade agreement has yet to yield a positive significant change in the standard of living or increase the jobs in any country.
Gantz said the United States' relationship with Mexico and Canada has been negatively affected since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said the United States rarely lets people cross the Mexican border, and now the Canadian border is beginning to mirror Mexico.
Kennedy said that when NAFTA was implemented, many environmentalists voiced concerns about America's pollution. This caused industries to relocate in Mexico where there were more lenient environmental laws. He said the business movement hasn't been as bad as anticipated.
"There has not been a major exodus of United States pollution industries running south," Kennedy said.
For more information or to register for the conference, go to law.msu.edu/nafta by Oct. 9.
