Free Trade and the Environment: Mexico, NAFTA, and Beyond
Author(s)
Gallagher, Kevin P.
Abstract
During the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) negotiations, proponents of the agreement argued that free trade would lead to seemingly automatic improvements in environmental conditions in countries like Mexico. Opponents of NAFTA said that the environment would automatically worsen in Mexico because Mexico’s lower standards would attract highly polluting firms from the United States. In effect, Mexico would serve as a pollution haven for U.S. industry. Ten years after NAFTA, what happened?
