Advantages And Disadvantages Of International Trade

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Every economy can count on two things; there will always be supply and there will always be demand. For some countries, supply cannot keep up with the demands for the economy and when that happens, international trade is sometimes an only option. As with anything in life, there are advantages and disadvantages to international trade. The U.S. and Canada are each other’s largest trading partners, almost 1.9 billion in merchandise trade crosses the Canada-U.S. border every day [Zuckerman]. Many U.S. citizens reside in or visit Canada each year. Canada and the United States share history, cultural values, a large border, atmosphere, and wildlife.

Economic isolation is not the answer to “winning”. In today’s economy, close trade relationships across North America are imperative to boost our economies. Let’s face it, Canada and the United States need each other. Each country in our global
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Then in 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico [Zuckerman]. Open or free trade is international trade without restrictions such as tariffs or quotas. And Free trade agreements (FTAs) determine the tariffs, or the taxes and stipulations, that the represented countries tie to imports and exports. Since the nations have been a part of the NAFTA most goods have reduced tariffs to zero [Amadeo, 2017]. It’s primary goal is to create a truly free North American market. Theoretically this would remove trade barriers, which would encourage competitive economies and productivity. Curiously every American has a different opinion of NAFTA and results from the agreement. Economy and trade are both extremely complex issues, so it’s hard to seperate the two to actually extract what positive results have come from NAFTA. Although there is a lot of talk of the positive employment rates due to the