2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: If Bernie supporters truly believe in economic justice, why do they oppose free trade? [View all]bulloney
(4,113 posts)Some people just knee-jerk support an agreement because "free trade" is in its name. Those who oppose them have studied them and saw the devils in the details. Agreements such as NAFTA and WTO are nothing more than conduits for multi-national corporations to move capital and technology across international borders and pit nation against nations in their wage scale, environmental laws and other factors.
I recently attended a conference where a speaker pointed out that after 20+ years of NAFTA, 85% of the automobiles produced in Mexico are exported. That tells me that NAFTA hasn't brought up Mexicans' standards to where they can be consumers of products like cars, major appliances and other major investments. Right now there are 9 auto assembly plants under construction or planned for construction in Mexico. None in the U.S. That tells me that the automakers are planning to further exploit low Mexican wages and lax enforcement of regulations.