Does NAFTA Equal Prosperity and Progress?
NAFTA: Bill Clinton promised “jobs, American jobs, and good-paying American jobs.” Ross Perot warned of a “giant sucking sound” as those American jobs would head south of the border in search of lower wages. Donald Trump campaigned on the claim that NAFTA was a “disaster” and that Mexico was “ripping us off.” So what’s the truth, nearly 24 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect?
Some say NAFTA has been good for our economy. But tell that to automotive-industry workers who saw their plants move to Mexico. Mexico, since the implementation of NAFTA, has become an auto-manufacturing hub. The “Big Three” Detroit automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) have all moved production facilities to Mexico, where they pay workers less than a tenth (typically $1-$3 per hour, with no benefits) of what they’d be paid in America.
Or how about those Hershey’s chocolate bars that tempt you in the grocery store? Those are made in Mexico now, too, after Hershey’s closed plants in California and Pennsylvania and moved jobs to a new 1,500-worker plant in Monterrey, Mexico. It’s not just Hershey’s. Other U.S. candymakers, such as Brach’s and Nestle, have moved production to Mexico. Why? Cheap labor: At a Nestle plant in Toluca, a skilled machinery operator earns less than $20 per day (and we’re talking 12-hour days here, with no overtime pay), while the same job in America would pay more than $20 per hour. Since 1997, the United States has lost more than 10,000 candy-making jobs because of cheap labor and lower raw-materials prices.
JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?
Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Print edition delivery (USA)
*Available Outside USA - Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically