NAFTA’s Impact on Mexico-United States Immigration
10 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2009
Date Written: November 2, 2009
Abstract
After the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force in 1994, Mexico has seen the transformation of its economy into one based on the actual and effectual exportation of cheap labour to serve in United States production chains. The broad-based economic dependence caused by the NAFTA trade liberalization regime, in particular the growth of the low value added maquiladora industry, has effectively subordinated the Mexican economy to that of the United States and left it void of productive economic chains capable of sustainable growth. With Mexican GDP and wages accelerating more slowly than those of its chief trading partner, amplified international competition and increased dependency upon money provided by American firms, Mexican citizens have become perilously situated in the global economy. This paper provides an assessment of post-NAFTA Mexican economic growth and development as well as Mexico-United States remittance and migration flows in order to describe the need for policymakers concerned with issues of immigration to consider the topic alongside that of trade liberalization.
Keywords: NAFTA, Mexico, Remittances, Maquiladora, United States, US, Migration, Immigration
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