Clinton and Trump Sparred About NAFTA, but What Is NAFTA?

The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993, almost eliminated all trade barriers between the three countries of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. It ultimately gutted the U.S. manufacturing sector and is believed to be responsible for between one and five million U.S. job losses. Clinton had promised the deal will create high-quality jobs in the country and reduce illegal immigration.

In Mexico, it was a disaster for local agriculture, negatively impacting food security and undermining farmers, displacing millions and forcing them into the sweatshops at the U.S. border, where they were paid extremely low wages on jobs that U.S. and Canadian workers lost.

NAFTA's arbitration provisions allow companies to challenge governments before international panels, putting economic profits of transnational firms above environment and labor rights.

Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have described it as “NAFTA on steroids."