NAFTA is a trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico that went into effect in 1994. It aims to reduce tariffs between the countries over 15 years. Since NAFTA, trade between the countries has increased dramatically, though the US trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has also increased substantially. NAFTA benefits include increased household income and GDP, though its impact is debated.

1. International Trade Agreements and Trade Organizations By. Sam Kim

2. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)

3. About NAFTA NAFTA was implemented on January 1, 1994. NAFTA was preceded by an agreement between Canada and the United States called the U.S-Canada Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) which was effective on January 1, 1989, and is now suspended due to NAFTA. It is designed to remove tariff barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico over the next fifteen years. NAFTA was preceded by an agreement between Canada and the United States called the U.S-Canada Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) which was effective on January 1, 1989, and is now suspended due to NAFTA.

4. Information of NAFTA Countries involved in NAFTA are United States, Mexico, and Canada. Agreement Affects North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico, and Canada went into effect, trade within North America has increased dramatically. Exports from the United States to Mexico have risen 150% and exports to Canada are up 66%. created over 300,000 new U.S. jobs. Since 1993, America's trade deficit with its North American trading partners (exports minus imports) has ballooned from $16 billion to $82 billion annually. Mexico and United State negotiates for a liberalized trade between the two countries.

5. Facts on agreements benefit Households enjoy higher income from both an increase in the national income as well as a reduction in taxes resulting from the NAFTA. The following are the annual benefits: NAFTA = $350 to $930 in annual benefits per average family of four. A number of formal mathematical studies of the North American Free Trade Agreement found that the NAFTA, when fully implemented, would raise U.S. GDP by between 0.1% and 0.5%. Relative to the size of the economy in 2000, these estimates suggest and an income gain of between $10 billion and $50 billion. Per an average household of four, this translates into a per year income gain of $140 to $720. NAFTA have promoted conditions of fair competition.

6. Impact on Canada? Canada’s NAFTA exports have grown substantially, and have been particularly successful in high value–added sectors such as automotive equipment(trucks, cars and parts), machinery and parts and industrial goods. In 1998, total three–way trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States rose to about $752 billion, with Canada–U.S. and Canada–Mexico trade accounting for $484 billion Since the implementation of the NAFTA, Canada’s trade with the United States has risen 80%, while trade with Mexico has doubled. In 1998, the growth alone in Canada’s exports to our NAFTA markets was roughly equal to the total value of our exports to Japan and to the 15 nations of the European Union (EU) combined.

7. Recent news on NAFTA US, Mexico, Canada to hold talks on NAFTA US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement Thursday that he will host Mexico's Secretary of the Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos and Canadian Trade Minister Stock well Day for talks on "ways to ensure that the benefits of our trilateral trade and economic relationship are widely shared and sustainable.“ President Obama hinted on the campaign trail last year that he might renegotiate NAFTA to include greater labor and environmental safeguards, but Canada and Mexico have expressed wariness at the prospect of reopening trade negotiations.

8. Recent news on NAFTA More Than Backpedaling on NAFTA The meeting was considered a "summit," even though none of the presidents slated to lead it are sitting presidents. All of a sudden this "summit" has been cancelled. The cancellation remains unexplained. President Obama has backpedaled from his campaign commitments to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) so that it would emphasize fair trade, workers' rights, and limits to investors' privileges. Instead, the government is still expanding the accord to remove even more checks and balances on the exchange of capital, services, and goods.

9. Recent news on NAFTA NAFTA trade falls 25 percent in August Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 24.9 percent lower in August 2009 than in August 2008, dropping to $54.3 billion Value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 5.3 percent in August from July. Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $32.9 billion in August, down 29.6 percent compared to August 2008. The value of imports carried by truck was 13.5 percent lower in August 2009 than August 2008 while the value of exports carried by truck was 14.7 percent lower.

10. World Bank Group

11. History of Organization Family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries. Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. It also provided the foundation of the Osiander-Committee in 1951, responsible for the preparation and evaluation of the World Development Report.

12. Membership of Organization Membership gives certain voting rights that are the same for all countries but there are also additional votes which depend on financial contributions to the organization. The President of the World Bank is nominated by the President of the United States and elected by the Bank's Board of Governors. As of November 1, 2006 the United States held 16.4% of total votes, Japan 7.9%, Germany 4.5%, and France and the United Kingdom each held 4.3%. As changes to the Bank's Charter require an 85% super-majority, the US can block any major change in the Bank's governing structure.

13. Purpose of Organization The World Bank's activities are focused on developing countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation, rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, electricity), and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development).

14. Controversy surrounding organization One area of particular controversy concerned the rights of indigenous peoples. Critics point out that the Management Response weakened a key recommendation that indigenous peoples and affected communities should have to provide 'consent' for projects to proceed – instead, there would be 'consultation'. Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, allegedly used his position to influence a pay and grade increase for his girlfriend Shaha Riza. Riza, who had held a position at the bank before Wolfowitz was appointed president in June 2005, was required to leave the bank and re-assigned to the State Department to avoid a conflict of interest, working in the office of Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, while remaining on the bank's payroll. Her salary was increased from nearly $133,000 to tax-free compensation of $180,000, and eventually reached $193,590 after subsequent raises. The panel concluded that the salary increase "at Mr. Wolfowitz's direction" was "in excess of the range" allowed under bank rules

15. Three recent news items concerning organization World Bank Supports Reform in Telecommunications Sector The World Bank has congratulated the Solomon Islands government on recent reforms in the telecommunications sector - to encourage new private market operators and increase competition. World Bank Group is ready to support Solomon Islands in its commitment to undertake much needed reforms. This can help Solomon Islands to encourage new sources of growth, as the logging industry is slowing down.

16. Three recent news items concerning organization Bank doubles aid to Samoa The World Bank has doubled its contribution to tsunami-stricken Samoa after a visit from its managing director. Aid would be increased from US$20 million to US$40 million. This can help Solomon Islands to encourage new sources of growth, as the logging industry is slowing down. The Asian Development Bank provided US$1 million in emergency aid to Samoa immediately after the series of devastating tsunamis on September 30 that flattened villages and killed more than 180 people.

17. Three recent news items concerning organization World Bank starts 138 investigations in one year The World Bank Group initiated 138 investigations related to various projects for the year ended June 30, with most of the cases pertaining to health, transport and water sectors. However, the number of cases has come down marginally, compared to 152 for the year ended June 30, 2008. In its annual report, the Integrity Vice-Presidency (INT), the investigative arm of the World Bank, has said it opened 138 cases for investigation in the fiscal year 2009 . INT pointed out that the largest number of cases were initiated in the health, transport and water sectors.

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19. Resource http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/0103dollar.html http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Quantification%20of%20NAFTA%20Benefits.pdf http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/nafta-alena/nafta5_section04.aspx?lang=en http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jACchbu_brFooZmnGAsCITkepeCQ http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6534 http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2009/10/29/NAFTAtradefalls25percentinAugust.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank_Group http://solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=4621 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10607162 http://www.ptinews.com/news/357075_World-Bank-starts-138-investigations-in-one-year