International Trade Agreements With The United States Of America Essay

Since the country’s conception in 1867, Canada has lived in the shadow of it’s southerly neighbour, the United States of America. Through the years, what started out as a country with very distinct culture has morphed and become Americanized. Historically speaking, American influence has had a great economical impact on Canada. Speaking about the Americanization of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada, has said, “Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United states has produced…” This pressure has changed the way Canadians live and conduct business. This pressure has Americanized the Canadian economy. American culture has a very far reaching effect on Canada with many trickle down effects. Americanization of the Canadian economy has lead to the American control of the Canada’s corporate structure, Canadian dependence on American capital, turned the Canadian economy into a mirror image of the American economy, and has led to loss of

The international trade sector of the U.S. economy continues to draw attention in economic and political circles. It is true that, the international market has become increasingly important as a source of demand for U.S. production and a source of supply for U.S. consumption. Indeed, it is substantially more important than is implied by the usual measures that relate the size of the international sector to the overall economy. This paper explores the role international trade now plays in the U.S. economy and answers the important questions for economic policy: How does international trade affect economic well-being? Who gains and who loses from free

Pierre Trudeau once said, “Living next to you (the United States) is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” This saying gives a deep understanding of what Canada’s relationship with the States was like. The U.S. is a country that has flourished throughout history and Canada was right behind. The U.S has almost 10 times more the population than Canada. So, Canada has depended on the U.S for simple things such as getting tourists from them to visit Canada. It is evident that Canada’s dependence on the U.S, was higher than America’s dependence on Canada.

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted between two industrial countries and a yet still developing nation. This was an agreement that was the first of its kind due to the relationship that the countries had and the investment opportunities that it presented. The United States, Canada, and developing Mexico decided to work towards eliminating most tariffs and non-tariff barriers between the three in order to increase the flow of trade in goods and services. Since its enactment NAFTA has led to the providing of over 40 million more jobs throughout the countries, and it has also tripled merchandise trade between the three participants to an astounding $946 billion USD in 2008 (NAFTA Now). However even then it is still not very clear whether enacting NAFTA was worth the time and effort and in fact the United States may have been better off not having joined NAFTA.

A survey published in 1982 by the Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that “relations between the U.S. and Canada have become more strained that at any time in recent memory”. Over the course of Pierre Trudeau’s last term in office, the temperature of Canada’s most important foreign relationship had plunged from chilly to icy. This deep freeze inflicted real costs on Canadians. By 1984, the terms of trade were turning against Canadian raw-materials exports, and Canadian manufacturers faced an intensifying threat of protectionism in Congress. With Centre-right governments in power in Washington, London and Bonn, Canada found itself isolated, its interest disregarded, its opinions openly scoffed at. The U.S. saw the Trudeau “peace initiative” as the “pot-induced behavior of an erratic leftist”. Brian Mulroney set himself to restore Canada’s reputation as a respected and reliable partner. He succeeded---and then

Investopedia.com states, “free trade is the economic policy of not discriminating against imports from and exports to foreign jurisdictions. (Buyers and sellers from separate economies may voluntarily trade without the domestic government applying tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions on their goods or services.)” In the previous decade, one of the many controversial subjects in the Canadian economy included whether or not it was beneficial for our federal government to eradicate free trade or open it up to other nations. During my research, I discovered that free trade agreements between Canada and other nations were not as beneficial as they may have seemed for they were often business and market oriented.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as the NAFTA, is a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico launched to enable North America to become more competitive in the global marketplace (Amadeo, 2011). The NAFTA is regarded as “one of the most successful trade agreements in history” for its impact on increases in agricultural trade and investment among the three contracting nations (North American Free Trade Agreement, 2011). Supporters and opponents of the NAFTA have argued the effects of the agreement on participating nations since its inception; yet, close examination proves that NAFTA has had a relatively positive impact on the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were failures. The North American Free Trade Agreement was one of the most controversial documents of the 20th century, beginning January 1st 1988.1 The reason it was so controversial was because it was loved in some ways yet hated in others. One of the reasons why the FTA and NAFTA were failures is due to the fact that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney lost a lot of votes caused by the amount of voters that disapproved of the FTA and NAFTA. Another reason the FTA and NAFTA were failures is because the agreement did not improve the amount of full time jobs in Canada, which was one of the reasons that the FTA and NAFTA was created in the first place. The final reason the deal failed was because the deal was supposed to improve productivity around Canada but really did nothing. The FTA and NAFTA were failures because it only helped a small handful of Canadians and hindered many more.

While on the surface it seems that a free trade area would always be a

The U.S. trade deficit has risen more or less steadily since 1992. In the second quarter of 2004, the trade deficit relative to GDP surpassed the 5 percent mark for the first time. Many economists already considered trade deficits above 4 percent of GDP dangerously high. The fear is that continued growth in this external imbalance of the U.S. economy will ultimately spook overseas investors. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/09/b193700.html

It is commonly believed that free trade between nations is a mutually beneficial arrangement for all parties involved; indeed, this is held to be an absolute truth. Though free trade is undoubtedly the most effective form of commerce between countries from a purely economic standpoint, increasingly we find that our so-called "free trade agreements" are horribly unbalanced. Indicative of these fiascoes is the North American

In the recent years, business become more larger due to the advancement of technology, a renewed enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and a global sentiment that favors international trade to connect people, business and market. The economist emphasize about the international trade can increase the production of goods and service, increase the demand from the consumer in local or international, the diversification of goods and services and the stability in the supply and prices of goods and services. As a result, it becomes the main part of the international business and motivated countries to trade with borders. The United States implied the government intervention since the great depression through the financial sector rescue

     International trade is defined as trade between two or more partners from different countries in the exchange of goods and services. In order to understand International trade, we need to first know and understand what trade is, which is the buying and selling of products between different countries. International Trade simply is globalization of the world and enables countries to obtain products and services from other countries effortlessly and expediently.

barriers were eliminated within ten years of the Act. A national treatment for member countries was adopted to liberalize trade services and investments. Performance requirements were removed, and dispute mechanism for investment conflicts were created. Protectionist issues emerged regarding progress in eliminating anti-dumping policies and persistent administered protection frameworks.5NAFTA did not substantially liberalize trade amongst all three counties in the agreement and fell short of its high expectations but it has certainly been a beneficial liberalizing force overall for Canadians. The North American Free Trade Agreement has been beneficial for Canada due its strengthening of relations with the United States, and increasing economic growth in our nation.

     The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. The World Trade Organization exists to ensure that trade between nations flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. It provides and regulates the legal issues which governs world trade now .