The 10th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement passed without much fanfare last year because of continuing concerns about terrorism and the war in Iraq, but the pact has made permanent and lasting changes in the North American landscape.

The agreement, which took effect on Jan. 1, 1994, turned the U.S., Canada and Mexico into an integrated market of almost 400 million people and solidified the trade relationship among the three countries.

NAFTA made Canada and Mexico the state’s top trading partners, economist Dr. Ray Perryman said.

Perryman says while Canada remains an important market for Texas, Mexico is the key to growth in exports from the state.

But NAFTA is not without its critics.

Opponents charge the agreement benefits powerful corporations at the expense of workers, giving rise to both economic and human rights issues.

NAFTA has cost U.S. workers almost 900,000 jobs and job opportunities, AFL-CIO President Joe Sweeney wrote Monday in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

“NAFTA was supposed to open markets for American goods and services, creating high-paying jobs at home and prosperity abroad,” Sweeney wrote.

“But the opposite has occurred. In 11 years under NAFTA, the US trade deficit with Canada and Mexico ballooned to 12 times its pre-NAFTA size, reaching $111 billion in 2004,” he wrote.

Click Here To Read The North American Free Trade Agreement

Click Here For NAFTA Secretariat Web Site

Click Here For AFL-CIO Web Site