The Free Trade Agreement and the Mexican Health Sector

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asa Cristina Laurell ◽  
Maria Elena Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
General Context ◽  
The Public

This article presents a discussion of the probable implications for the Mexican health sector of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The authors argue that the FTA should be seen as part of neoliberal policies adopted by the Mexican government in 1983 that are based on large-scale privatization and deregulation of labor relations. In this general context the health sector, which traditionally has been dominated by public institutions, is undergoing a deep restructuring. The main trends are the decapitalization of the public sector and a selective process of privatization that tends to constitute the private health sector in a field of capital accumulation. The FTA is likely to force a change in Mexican health legislation, which includes health services in the public social security system and recognizes the right to health, and to accelerate selective privatization. The U.S. insurance industry and hospital corporations are interested in promoting these changes in order to gain access to the Mexican market, estimated at 20 to 25 million persons. This would lead to further deterioration of the public institutions, increasing inequalities in health and strengthening the private sector. The historical trend toward the integration of a National Health Service in Mexico would be interrupted in favor of formation of a dual private-public system.

The Investment Provisions of the Canada—United States Free Trade Agreement: A Canadian Perspective

1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 394-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Raby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
Trading Partners

This is a good deal, a good deal for Canada and a deal that is good for all Canadians. It is also a fair deal, which means that it brings benefits and progress to our partner, the United States of America. When both countries prosper, our democracies are strengthened and leadership has been provided to our trading partners around the world. I think this initiative represents enlightened leadership to the trading partners about what can be accomplished when we determine that we are going to strike down protectionism, move toward liberalized trade, and generate new prosperity for all our people.On January 2, 1988, President Ronald Reagan of the United States and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada signed the landmark comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries that already enjoyed the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world. The FTA was subsequently ratified by the legislatures of both countries, if only after a bitterly fought election on the subject in Canada. On January 1, 1989, the FTA formally came into effect.

scholarly journals A Study of the Environmental Issues Associated with the Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyamalendu Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Central American ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The U.S

The Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) with the United States was passed on July 28, 2005. The main goal of DR-CAFTA is to create a free trade zone for economic development. The Agreement is highly controversial with many contentious issues including concern about the environment, which is the focus of this study. The concern is that the environmental objectives are expected to be subservient to trade and other economic incentives which will lead to further deterioration of the environment in countries where the environmental standards are already low. The effects on the U.S. environment are expected to be minimal. However, it is feared that the U.S. manufacturing facilities may relocate to Central American countries to take advantage of low wages and low environmental requirements, which may result in loss of jobs and capital investment in the U.S. However, overall DR-CAFTA is expected to be beneficial in many ways, including an increase in trade and economic growth in all participating countries.

AHMED GALAL AND ROBERT Z. LAWRENCE, ED., Building Bridges: An Egypt–US Free Trade Agreement (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998). Pp. 121. $29.95 cloth.

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Salem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Brookings Institution ◽  
Optimal Form

Has the time come for a free-trade agreement (FTA) between Egypt and the United States? According to the contributors to Building Bridges, an FTA is the logical next step in the Egypt–U.S. relationship. This policy-oriented volume explores the conditions under which the benefits of an FTA between the parties would be maximized. Although the contributors reach different conclusions regarding the optimal form of the Egypt–U.S. FTA, consensus is reached on one point: an FTA between Egypt and the United States will produce economic benefits for both nations.

Central American integration through infrastructure development: A case study of Costa Rican hydropower

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denielle M. Perry ◽  
Kate A. Berry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Central American ◽  
Infrastructure Development

At the turn of the 21st century, protectionist policies in Latin America were largely abandoned for an agenda that promoted free trade and regional integration. Central America especially experienced an increase in international, interstate, and intraregional economic integration through trade liberalization. In 2004, such integration was on the agenda of every Central American administration, the U.S. Congress, and Mexico. The Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP) and the Central America Integrated Electricity System (SIEPAC), in particular, aimed to facilitate the success of free trade by increasing energy production and transmission on a unifi ed regional power grid (Mesoamerica, 2011). Meanwhile, for the United States, a free trade agreement (FTA) with Central America would bring it a step closer to realizing a hemispheric trade bloc while securing market access for its products. Isthmus states considered the potential for a Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, their largest trading partner, as an opportunity to enter the global market on a united front. A decade and a half on, CAFTA, PPP, and SIEPAC are interwoven, complimentary initiatives that exemplify a shift towards increased free trade and development throughout the region. As such, to understand one, the other must be examined.

Developments Relating to U.S. Trade Negotiations—KORUS, NAFTA, and Trade Promotion Authority

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-513 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Final Agreement ◽  
Trade Promotion ◽  
Trade Deals ◽  
Trump Administration

Consistent with his approach on the campaign trail, President Trump has demonstrated a continued interest in revamping U.S. trade agreements. By the late spring of 2018, the Trump administration had negotiated modest changes to the United States-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) in favor of U.S. interests. It had yet to reach any final agreement with regard to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), despite the expiration of an initial deadline that was designed to ensure adequate time for a vote on the negotiated agreement by the present Congress. To ease the passage of future trade deals, Trump has triggered the three-year extension of a process that provides expedited congressional consideration of negotiated trade agreements.

Neoliberalism and Counterinsurgency

Colombia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Latin American ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Trade Promotion ◽  
The U.S

How did the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement come about? The officially named “U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement” was the stepchild of a rancorous hemispheric divorce between the United States and five Latin American governments over the proposal to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement...

Mexican Comic Books and NAFTA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Comic Books ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Mexican State ◽  
Production And Consumption

Mexican comic books are a cultural product whose development is tied to the history of the modern Mexican state. The consolidation of the state in the aftermath of the armed conflict period of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) shaped the conditions for the emergence of a domestic industry and market for comics, and in particular for comic books, alongside other important cultural industries such as radio, film, and television, through state supports for and controls over the nation’s culture industries. In the late 20th century, the neoliberal character of the Mexican state—for which official policy has centered on privatization of state economic enterprises, the reduction of public subsidies for goods and services, and the elimination of import tariffs—subsequently reshaped the conditions for production and consumption of the nation’s sequential art. The term “comics” is applied to graphic narrative generally, which in turn is defined by the sequential use of images, usually in combination with language, in order to tell some kind of story. Comics are therefore a broad category of cultural production that includes newspaper strips, comic books, graphic novels, fotonovelas (comprising photographs in series with inserted dialogue text), and, more recently, webcomics. Comics are a cultural commodity the production and distribution of which are affected by changes in public supports, as well as by governmental controls over comics content. In the period of institutional consolidation that followed the armed phased of the Mexican Revolution, government supports were provided principally through the subsidizing of newsprint and the implementation of national literacy campaigns. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—a tri-national trade liberalization regime signed by Mexico, Canada, and the United States and implemented on January 1, 1994—significantly altered the circumstances of comics in Mexico, in terms of both the economic conditions for comics production and readership, and the political environment and public discourses addressed and communicated through Mexican comics art. The most direct impact on comics production came through the Mexican state’s retreat from control of the paper supply under the terms of NAFTA. Because paper is a key productive input, changes in paper cost and availability had the largest impact on the cost of long-form or sustained graphic narratives, such as comic books. As a result, the NAFTA period (1994 to present) is marked by the emergence of the Mexican graphic novel and of webcomics. Both of these cultural forms are based on a reorganization of the economics of comic-book production. Comics production and consumption are therefore implicated in neoliberal policy constructs such as the North American Free Trade agreement, despite not being an explicit category of economic activity addressed by the treaty.

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