Week 6 Writing Assignment: Trade Policies, American Politics

Trade Policies
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Trade Policies
Trade has played a significant role in shaping the American politics since the nineteenth century. Trade is intertwined with geopolitics and economic theories, hence its importance in the region. As a result, there are varied opinions on the regional trade policies among the scholars, politicians and even the citizens. North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are among the trade policies that have been deemed controversial in the region.
NAFTA trade pact was signed in 1992, which eliminated trade barriers, customs duties and some tariffs on goods being traded between Mexico, United States (U.S.) and Canada. Concisely, the policy created a free-trade among North America’s largest countries. The free trade area increased trade and production among the countries, leading to the creation of millions of jobs CITATION IMD16 \l 1033 (Destler, 2016). According to McBride and Sergie (2017), the trade between the U.S. and the other two countries has tripled, growing at a fast rate that surpasses any other trade between the US and other countries. According to the report, an approximate of fourteen million jobs in the US economy rely on the trade with Mexico and Canada, with nearly over two hundred thousand jobs created annually. However, critics have blamed NAFTA for the decline in ...