In 1992, the year before #NAFTA’s passage, the US had a $5.6 billion trade surplus with Mexico. In 2004, under NAFTA, it reversed with a vengeance; $45.1 billion more in goods came in from Mexico, an unprecedented $50.7 billion swing to deficit. gregpalast.com/how-democrats-…
The macroeconomic modeling I did in my old academic days suggests that, roughly, such a loss of income to the USA costs half a million jobs. You can quibble with the estimate, call it 300,000 jobs or 900,000. But a $50.7 billion crocodile is difficult to disguise as a pet gecko.
American workers could have done worse, of course, and they did. The trade deficit with Canada went from a small $8 billion before #NAFTA to a Katrina-sized $73 billion in 2005. gregpalast.com/how-democrats-…
Real wages fell on both sides of the border, or, more correctly, all three sides, as US, Canadian & Mexican wages were hammered. In Mexico, laborer’s pay per hour dropped 40% in the first 7 years after #NAFTA’s passage. gregpalast.com/how-democrats-…
At the same time, the wage-wealth jaw opened wide in all three nations as productivity rose, lifting the value of owners’ equity by several trillion dollars. #NAFTA
However, under the new #NAFTA deal, Mexico is going to be required to raise auto worker wages to $16 dollars an hour and a car is going to have to have 40% of its content made by those workers. washingtonpost.com/news/postevery…
Andrés Manuel López Obrador — aka AMLO, the Bernie Sanders of Mexico — called Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ bluff. AMLO said yes, we’ll take that right now.
Wilbur Ross almost fell over dead, because at his 8 auto part plants in Mexico, he's only paying workers $4 and $5 an hour. So he’s going to have to quadruple wages. #NAFTA
They did the deal with the outgoing President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, just so #AMLO doesn’t get the credit, but it was AMLO’s negotiators calling the shots in the room. gregpalast.com/how-the-bernie…
People think it’s #Trump’s deal — it’s not, the credit belongs to #AMLO. And the left should be cheering, because this is a win for the working class, but the Democrats have a long history of failing them. gregpalast.com/how-democrats-…
