Following the trade policies of the Salinas government
in Mexico, the United States and Mexico commenced free trade
talks. Canada insisted on inclusion in the talks in order to protect its
interests. The result has been the negotiation of a trilateral free trade
agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).57
NAFTA is an agreement that liberalizes trade and investment relations
among the three North American countries. After a particularly
rough ride and a great deal of uncertainty, NAFTA finally passed the
critical congressional hurdle in the United States