The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has enhanced prosperity in all three
countries through increased trade and investment, stronger economic growth, and lower
prices for consumers. Nonetheless, NAFTAís benefits are not universally understood and
the current economic environment of the United States is creating public misperceptions
about the value of further regional economic integration. This misperception is unfortunate
because it limits possible cooperation between the governments of the three countries in
making the region more competitive, its businesses more efficient and the offer of new jobs
more sustainable.
A regional approach is the only opportunity that NAFTA countries have to strengthen their
competitiveness and security. Unless public misperceptions on NAFTA are turned around,
our countries will become largely irrelevant by the rapid ascension of China and India, as
well as other Asian nations, to leadership positions in the new global architecture. To the
extent that NAFTA itself continues to be a target, efforts to ìdeepen the NAFTAî will be
largely unsuccessful, accelerating the erosion of the United States capacity to maintain
itself as the leader of the world.