Speech #1140020365

In 1993. the year before NAFTA was implemented. the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of more than $1.6 billion. Last year. the trade deficit with Mexico was $53 billion. I quote what the Economic Policy Institute says about NAFTA: [President] Clinton and his collaborators promised [NAFTA] would bring "goodpaying American jobs." a rising trade surplus with Mexico. and a dramatic reduction in illegal immigration. Instead. NAFTA directly cost the United States a net loss of 700.000 jobs. The [trade] surplus with Mexico turned into a chronic deficit. And the economic dislocation in Mexico increased the flow of undocumented workers into the United States. Further. I quote an article that appeared in the New York Times yesterday: Mexico has become the most attractive place in North America to build new automobile factories. a shift that has siphoned jobs from the U.S. and Canada ....