Reply #166: The first thing to remember is it's almost entirely unlike the EC

[cprise]

The EC was set up in Europe to create a giant trade zone where companies could trade across borders freely, thus encouraging economic acticity. But the EC was part of a broader program of European integration, where certain labor, safety and environmental standards ALSO crossed borders.

NAFTA isn't connected with anything that would provide environment- or worker-related protections. It gives companies the right to trade freely across borders in North America AND the power to strike down laws in other countries in a special NAFTA court if they interfere with a company's profits in any way.

http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/CH__11/index.cfm