“NAFTA at Twenty,” a conference on the twentieth anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement, was hosted by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University on December 9, 2013. The conference brought those who negotiated NAFTA for Canada, the United States and Mexico together with leading scholars who have studied NAFTA’s effects.
How did NAFTA, which was controversial from its inception, come about? What were its economic and political challenges and opportunities? What has it accomplished for the United States, Mexico, and Canada? What is the future of NAFTA, and how does it relate to the prospective Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)?
Those questions were addressed at the conference by distinguished scholars and policy makers. To view the various sessions and speakers, please review the videos below.
Michael Wilson, Carla Hills, and Jaime Serra-Puche, the three trade negotiators, give firsthand accounts of NAFTA’s creation and the political debate surrounding its passage and implementation.
Stephen Haber and Daniel Trefler explain how NAFTA has fundamentally and beneficially transformed Mexico and Canada.
George Schultz, former US secretary of state, talks about the challenges NAFTA faces and his vision of North America as ever more important in the global economy and polity.
Lorenzo Caliendo and Caroline Freund describe NAFTA's economic effects, both within and outside NAFTA, and how to discern them from other regional and global factors.
James Sweeney and Michael Wilson look at North American energy markets, energy cooperation and interdependence, national energy policy debates, and how NAFTA fits in.
Carla Hills, Jaime Serra-Puche, and Michael Wilson discuss what we have learned from NAFTA and what it means for future trade liberalization, both NAFTA 2.0 and other potential regional and global trade agreements, such as TPP and TTIP.
