Harwood 1 Brianna Harwood HIS 132-826 R.

Eller 28 March 2013 The North America Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed by the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. This signing had a huge effect on trading, industries, and other important parts of the United States as a whole. It also affected individual lives as companies moved and policies changed. One life that was largely changed was my grandfathers. My grandparents lost their jobs and insurance, and their way of life drastically changed. Even though this agreement made large changes in this country as a whole, it also changed the lives of the many citizens who lived here. NAFTA was first signed in 1992, but it didnt go into effect until it went through several inspections and was then signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994. It all started when Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act and then a Canadian-United States Free Trade Agreement. The United States and Mexico also wanted to come to some sort of agreement with each other regarding trade because of how high the percentages were with the import tariffs between the two countries. This way of thinking then led to NAFTA (Amadeo). The NAFTA has obviously made some negative and positive changes within the United States as a whole, but it also affected many individuals and their everyday lives since it came into effect. One of those individuals is my grandfather, Charles Withers. He was fifty-eight years old when NAFTA came into effect and this caused a drastic change in his life. The company that he worked for moved its factory to Mexico. They did this because the company believed that

Harwood 2 they could earn more money by getting cheaper labor in Mexico. Since there were no longer tariffs on exports they could get cheaper labor and still earn the same amount of money on their products, ultimately earning more in the long run. So when the company moved my grandfather lost his job and all of his life and health insurance (Withers). Losing everything really changed his life style and the way that he handled his money. He and my grandmother had to become extremely conservative with their money and careful throughout the five years that this affected them the most. My grandfather said, If we had not had some savings stored up we would not have made it until retirement when we could finally get back on our feet (Withers). The government knew that there would be many citizens who lost their jobs so they set up funds for those lost their jobs to go back to school. Even though this was a hard time for my grandfather it seems that it also helped him in a way to find a passion that he did not know that he had. The government sent him back to school where he received a culinary degree. From there he was not only able to go to school with his son and spend time learning with him but he was also able to learn something that he could truly love and enjoy, cooking. With his degree he has gone on to work at several restaurants and he now even owns his own catering service with help from my grandmother (Withers). So even though it caused a lot of hard times and struggles, his life has worked out again and he truly enjoys what he does now. The ironic story in all of this is that what the company thought would increase their profit really destroyed them. After about five years in Mexico they began losing money because even though the labor was cheaper it was not skilled labor. This hurt the companys quality and progress. For this reason they came back to the United States but then after five more years they went out of business (Withers). There were several other companies just like the one where my

Harwood 3 grandfather used to work, showing that many of the negative effects of NAFTA were unnecessary and could have been avoided.

Harwood 4 Works Cited Amadeo, Kimberly. "History of NAFTA." US Economy . About.com, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://useconomy.about.com/od/tradepolicy/p/NAFTA_History.htm>. Galbraith, James K. "What Mexico--And The United States--Wants. What NAFTA Really Means." World Policy Journal 10.3 (1993): 29.Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Kelly, William P. "Restructuring Under NAFTA: What Are The Considerations And How Do We Implement Them? Has NAFTA.." Canada-United States Law Journal 23.(1997): 497. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Peloso, Jennifer. Free Trade. Vol. 77. N.p.: The H.W. Wilson Company, n.d. 13-75. Print. Viano, Emilio C. "An American Dilemma: The Flow Of Trade Versus The Flow Of People In Nafta." Denning Law Journal 22.(2010): 87-115. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. Withers, Charles T. Personal interview. 16 Mar. 2013. Young, Mitchell. Free Trade. N.p.: Christine Nasso, 2009. 91-99. Print.