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With the implementation of NAFTA and the WTO agreements, it had been expected that international trade would become freer, U.S. trade deficits would shrink, and employment would be boosted. However, things did not happen as expected: trade deficits and trade-related job losses increased. The hardest hit were the manufacturing industries like textile, apparel, and even steel, and states such as California, New York, etc., with the result that several hundred thousand jobs and job opportunities were lost. After investigations were made, it was found out that such factors had contributed to the increased trade deficits and job loses: NAFTA-induced foreign direct investment flow into Canada and Mexico, which expanded their manufacturing and export capacities; the U.S. dollar appreciation, which made U.S. exports more expensive and less competitive and U.S. imports cheaper; seeming discrimination of WTO’s trade-related rules against the United States, etc. Against this situation, the existing agreements should be repaired and rebuilt rather than putting another round of broad, new trade deals on a fast track.

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