NAFTA & Mexico

The Newspaper Tree, a Web site out in the West Texas town of El Paso, has an interesting article on the effects of North American Free Trade Agreement on Mexican farmers, who have been pummeled by corn imports from heavily subsidized industrial growers in the USA.

As the 14th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) fast approaches, rural opponents of the trinational pact are stepping up their mobilizations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mexican farm groups and their supporters are gearing up for border-wide actions on Jan. 1, 2008 to protest the final elimination of tariffs on corn, beans, sugar and powdered milk.

The whole story is here. At least part of the mass illegal immigration to this country has been the rural dislocation caused by NAFTA, a boon mostly for North American corporations but some harder on U.S. workers and Mexican peasants. Another one of Bill Clinton's Republican-style political moves that somehow never got any credit from the Republicans. I'll be watching for news of the protests tomorrow.