NAFTA’s setbacks have been due partly to failures of compliance - related to sugar, softwood lumber, trucking - but mostly to what it omitted. The income gap between Mexico and its northern neighbors has not narrowed. Illegal migration has increased. Bureaucratic duplication on the border, combined with inadequate infrastructure and divergent regulatory policies, has raised transaction costs above the level of the tariffs that were eliminated. If Europe built too many institutions, NAFTA made the opposite mistake. It lacks institutions to anticipate or respond to crises or take advantage of opportunities. We also lack a vision of an inclusive identity that would inspire citizens of all three countries to think of themselves also as North Americans. Indeed, NAFTA is little more than two bilateral relationships that rely on old habits and too often an unproductive paternalism by the United States.
The US Federal government's denial of the NAU proposal is amazing after reading several of these pronouncements from people who are authorized to attend conferences held without media presence but with high rankings government officials like George Schultz. Read more and decide for yourself what is happening.
Tags: NAFTA, Robert Pastor, CFR. NAU, North American Union
Powered by Qumana
No comments:
Post a Comment