A COMPARATIVE DISCUSSION OF TWO COUNTRIES AND THEIR NATIONS’ REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR GLOBAL BUSINESS AS RELATES TO THE CONTEXT OF CAFTA

It has been the belief of many that NAFTA has failed in many ways. To this extent, CAFTA has been identified as a superior alternative, in many cases. For example, the American manufacturing trade action coalition strongly opposes the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because it copies the flawed trade policy model of the North American Free Trade agreement. The results of this failed model are predictable. CAFTA will exacerbate the already astronomical $617 billion US trade deficit. One need only study the impact of NAFTA to determine the outcome. 85% of the text of CAFTA is identical to NAFTA, while the other 15% is even worse, granting greater loopholes that will displace current exports of US yarns and fabrics to the region. In the early 1990s NAFTA was sold to the American public as a vehicle to increase the modest US trade surplus with Mexico in order to sustain and create millions of high paying and highly values added manufacturing jobs in our country. Assertions like this bill’s claim, made by the Institute for International Economics in October, 1993, were common; “With NAFTA, US exports will continue to outstr...