Here’s a report from Reuters on the effect that NAFTA had on El Paso, and the likely effect discontinuing NAFTA might have:
The trade agreement negotiated by the Republican administration of President H.W. Bush and finished by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, reshaped El Paso’s economy for both good and ill.
Despite initial job flight, the city of about 680,000 people has many more jobs than before the trade pact signed by the United States, Canada and Mexico, and unemployment is down.
The new jobs are different from the old ones, and wages in the area have not risen as quickly as in other parts of the United States.
It’s an interesting overview, long on speculation and skinny on facts, but it’s worth thinking about.
Before NAFTA American business could drain U.S. dollars out of Mexico and cause the Peso to reevaluate. This happens by importation of good sold by corporation on the American side if the border giving products cheaper to Mexican businesses. Example Pioneer (steroes) of North America sell stereos cheaper to Mexican businesses at a cheaper rate than Pioneer of South America who has the rights to sell in Mexico. Other corporation in North America do the same thing and U.S. dollars are sucked out of Mexico and cause the Peso to devaluate as it did in the early 1980’s. Going from 3 Pesos to 1 American dollar to 8 Pesos to 1 American dollar. Plus the market in Mexico is flooded and no on can buy because the money will not buy as much as it once did before the devaluation. NAFTA prevents this from happening. If the trade agreement is scrape El Paso and Mexico would suffer economically.
Back in the day you had some idiots screaming that we can’t live with NAFTA and now you have some idiots saying we can’t live without it. But the really “funny” part was listening to the murmurings of the three nations believing that their own country was going to get screwed while the other two were going to prosper. When I become God, l’m going to make the human monkey (slightly) less crazy. l mean, if l made humans too rational, sane, and level-headed, that would become rather boring to observe after a short while.