CAFTA and Free Trade: What Every American Should Know

CAFTA and Free Trade: What Every American Should Know, Greg Spotts, The Disinformation Company Ltd, 2005

This book looks at CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the newest attempt to bring "free trade" to the Western Hemisphere. A companion to the recently released DVD called "American Jobs," this book shows that the reality of free trade is nowhere near as bright as the promise.

If free trade in general, and CAFTA in particular, is such a wonderful thing, then a few questions come to mind. Part of the attraction of free trade is that people in Latin America are going to start buying lots of US-made products, leading to new jobs here in America. How is that going to happen when the trend in wages is very much downward, to see who can reach the bottom first? It takes years, and higher wages, to create any sort of consumer society in Latin America. If high American wages are an "inefficiency" to be gotten rid of as soon as possible, who is going to buy all those hundred-dollar sneakers and wide-screen TVs? Where are all these new industries for which laid-off American workers are supposed to retrain?

NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and outsourcing in general, has led to a large loss of jobs. In the 21st century, over 3 million American manufacturing jobs are gone, never to return. According to one estimate, almost 900,000 jobs headed to Mexico because of NAFTA. Those maquiladora jobs are now leaving Mexico and going to China, where the wages are even lower. Over 1.5 million Mexican farmers have been forced off the land because of cheap (and subsidized) American agricultural imports. The same thing will happen in Central America if CAFTA comes into effect. None of those displaced farmers are going to head north and illegally enter America?

This is an excellent book. It doesn't go into much detail (that's not the intention), but it gives the reader plenty to consider. It is written in easy-to-understand language, so even those who know nothing about free trade can understand it. Overall, it is very highly recommended.