The Environmental Implications of The NAFTA on North America Political Science 101, s02 G. McDougalNovember 18, 1998Eidse 1IntroductionPrior to 1994, trade and the environment were two entirely separate issues. There were no environmental regulations found in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Upon the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) environmental concerns of North America as a whole were for the first time provided within a side agreement to the NAFTA. Finally there is a trade agreement that recognizes the concerns of North American citizens to maintain a healthy, sustainable environment, where the damaging effects of free trade could be minimized. The NAFTA entailed provisions for stricter environmental regulations on all of North America, and if a country did not abide by these regulations they would be accountable to a multinational panel and receive a proper penalty. In theory the NAFTA would be entirely beneficial to Mexico, the US, and to Canada, but due to low enforcement of the regulations, the opening of foreign resource markets along with several other implications has proved the NAFTA is far from ideal.Environmental Regulations of NAFTA and their EffectsPrevious trade agreements with our southern trading partners have been solely based on economic growth, but with the inclusion of and environmental side agreement to the NAFTA, environmental restoration was now a key factor. Proponents of this side agreement praised the NAFTA for its sensitivity to the pressing environmental concerns shared by Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Environmental regulations would be Eidse 2set in place for North America as a whole, eventually cleaning up our environment on a huge scale. Opponents of the NAFTA, however, were not convinced that the environmental regulations set in the NAFTA would improve the environment throughout North America. They saw ...
