...Out of a workforce of 135 million people, about 4 million to 6 million leave their jobs voluntarily or forcibly every month. The jobs lost to Mexico over a 20-year period amount to less than 0.1 percent of that turnover. Some of those jobs would have been lost anyway, as manufacturers shift to automation whenever possible to cut costs and increase profits. ...
... Trump also ignores other economic gains from Nafta. Exports to Mexico have risen tremendously -- they were only $42 billion in 1993. [... In 2015, Mexico exported $316 billion worth of goods and services to the U.S., which sent back $267 billion worth....] That increase has come in part from Mexicans' higher standard of living (because of Nafta). Today, exports to Mexico support six million U.S. jobs, many of which pay more than the blue-collar ones that were lost. ...
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When American-made goods contain components that were made less expensively in Mexico, the U.S. also can compete more aggressively on price with European and Asian rivals. The supply chains that move intermediate goods across the Mexican, Canadian and U.S. borders would never have happened were it not for Nafta. They are probably its biggest, if unheralded, success story....
...By requiring Mexican employers to follow tougher anti-pollution rules, the cost of doing business there would rise. If Mexico's employers must allow unions that bargain collectively over pay, hours and conditions, workers' wages would rise. In both cases, the added costs would make Mexico less appealing to U.S. producers.
There's already a plan in the works that would do all of that, and it's called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Mexico and Canada have agreed to sign it, as has the U.S. But in demonizing free trade, Trump probably closed off chances for U.S. ratification anytime soon.
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