Twenty years after NAFTA the consensus outside of the Chamber of Commerce has been that it was an expensive agreement to the American worker. About 700,000 jobs were lost with many of those being in the automotive, electronics and apparel industries. Even back in 1992 free-trade and globalization were at the forefront of the Presidential campaign. The third-party candidate a the time, Ross Perot, gave the American people a warning regarding NAFTA. During a presidential debate, the told the audience that should NAFTA be adopted, there would be a “giant sucking sound going south”. The sucking would be the sound of jobs leaving the U.S. and going south of the border. However, back then, the idea that free trade would create jobs was generally more accepted. Bill Clinton supported NAFTA during the campaign and would eventually go on to win the presidency. This is no longer the case. Current U.S. Congressional nominees are keeping their distance from anything having to do with globalization. It is so toxic that “Trump and Sanders argue that policies celebrated 16 years ago no longer work for most Americans, a message that is resonating widely among those who have most suffered the consequences.” This agreement between two candidates that couldn’t be more apart is telling of the current mood of the nation on free-trade.
Politicians tend to tout the benefits of free trade without realizing that sometimes the cost of globalization are far more visible and felt by the American worker than the more general benefits that are achieved by corporations,commerce and security. It is this feeling that big corporations are the only ones that will benefit that has perhaps killed the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), a free trade agreement between the U.S. and its European allies. Several nations opposed it for various reasons. Some believe that “Instead of delivering prosperity, TTIP is perceived by many as a deal that will open the floodgates to cheap, pesticide-pumped foreign produce, usher in lower standards and destroy jobs rather than create them.” Globalization is in trouble and as mentioned in an earlier post, it’s affecting Congressional races. Some feel the topic is so toxic that President Obama will not be able to pass it in the lame-duck session of Congress since many will be up for reelection in two years. “The backlash against free trade is growing – on both sides of the Atlantic. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Hillary Clinton, his Democrat rival, oppose the TTIP deal.” At least in public they do.