North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Trade Disputes Attributed to Asymmetric Relationships Leading to the United States' Bad Neighbor Policies with Canada and Mexico

Sixteen years ago NAFTA embellished the value of fr ee trade but over the years the dominant U.S. econo my in the North American partnership has simply dictated term s of trade with its neighbors to the north and sout h. The United States has feuded with Canada over such trade dispu tes as softwood imports. The U.S. ‐ Mexico dispute o f most significance is the continuous refusal to allow Mexi can trucks to operate freely on American roadways. Although a pilot program to ascertain the safety improvements in Mexi can trucks was started by the Bush administration i t was not funded in the stimulus bill last year, resulting in Mexico imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports . This paper argues that the Obama administration needs to make changes so America honors its trade agreements, avoids pro tectionist measures, and employs statesmanship as one of the w ays to avoid trade disputes.