Twenty-Five Years of Trade Deals Quiz

Answer: Mexico

The North American Free Trade Agreement was finalized in 1992, after six years of negotiations. It was signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas in December of 1992, and approved by the legislatures of the three countries over the course of 1993.

Interestingly, by the time NAFTA took effect, both Bush and Mulroney were out of office.

Answer: Ross Perot

Ross Perot first used the "giant sucking sound" line in a debate with President George H W Bush and then-Governor Bill Clinton in October of 1992. He repeated it in a debate with Vice President Gore on "Larry King Live" in November 1993. The late Senator Wellstone (D-MN) and Representative Kaptur (D-OH) were outspoken opponents of NAFTA, although Senator Kennedy (D-MA) voted in its favour in November 1993.

Answer: Seattle

Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Seattle to protest the WTO - a wide mixture of students, environmentalists, trade unionists and more radical groups. Through sheer weight of numbers, they successfully shut down most of the traffic in downtown Seattle.

The Seattle protests were also one of the first demonstrations of the power of the Internet. Seattle is home to a huge number of computer geeks thanks to Microsoft, and they used webcams and streaming video to show what was happening in the streets of Seattle on the World Wide Web, ensuring the protests reached as wide an audience as possible.

Answer: Farmers

Lee Kyung Hae was a farmer and activist. He had held numerous positions in farming organizations since 1979, and had even served as a provincial legislator. In 1993, he attempted suicide at the WTO headquarters in Geneva but survived. On September 10, 2003, Lee climbed the fence at the barricades of the WTO conference and stabbed himself in the heart.

His death galvanized the resolve of the protestors, who created a unified front. This was one of the factors which led to the collapse of the WTO talks in Cancun.

Answer: Miami

The controversial "Miami Model" was designed by Miami Police Chief John Timoney. While arguably successful in controlling large-scale disruptive protests, it has also been strongly criticised as heavy-handed and aggressive.

Answer: Venezuela

Venzeula, led by Hugo Chavez in 2003, was the leader in the fight against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The Venezuelan government sponsored several forums in which protesters could speak with trade ministers who had been at the FTAA talks.

The FTAA was to have been a trade agreement covering the entire western hemisphere, excluding Cuba. Protests in Montreal in 2001 and Miami in 2003 helped build opposition, and the last meeting regarding the FTAA was in Mar Del Plata, Argentina in November 2005. The meeting stalled, and no future meeting was scheduled, largely due to opposition from Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, which all had left-leaning governments by 2005.

Answer: Panama

Panama did not have protests because it was not part of the CAFTA agreement. However, there were major protests against the agreement Panama negotiated with the United States in 2011. Costa Rica and Guatemala had huge demonstrations in 2006, led by labor unions and farmers. El Salvador had protests against CAFTA both in 2006 and when US President Barack Obama visited in 2011.

Answer: False

The trade policies of the Obama Administration were not significantly different from other presidents over the last several decades. In 2011, the United States concluded trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. All were criticized by the labor movement and other activists for their pro-corporate stance. The Obama Administration also promoted the TPP, which opponents have criticized as pro-corporate.

Answer: 680 thousand

Not surprisingly, economists disagree as to whether NAFTA has been beneficial or not to the economies of the countries concerned. In May of 2011, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute reported that NAFTA had cost 682,900 jobs between 1994 and 2010, and resulted in a trade deficit with Mexico of $97 billion. Prior to NAFTA, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico.

Answer: Justin Trudeau and Enrique Pena Nieto

Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada in November 2015. Enrique Pena Nieto was the President of Mexico who signed. The agreement was signed on November 30, 2018, making it virtually the last thing Nieto did as President. Lopez Obrador took office on December 1.

Harper was Prime Minster of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Fox was President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. Chretien was Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.

The USMCA retained some of the old structure of NAFTA, but did have some major changes, especially in the area of automobile manufacturing, dairy trade between the US and Canada and labor rights in Mexico. On May 1, 2019 (Labor Day in most of the word), Lopez Obrador passed a new law giving Mexican workers the right to collectively bargain and form their own unions.

Interesting, much of the criticism of Trump's new trade pact has been from conservative economists. They generally viewed NAFTA positively, and feel that USMCA actually harms US trade policies.