NAFTA: Should We Stay or Should We Go?

This article was originally published in Inbound Logistics on Oct. 13, 2017

By Inbound Logistics Staff

Many Americans see the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a contributing factor to the growth of the U.S. economy over the past 20 years and to the proliferation of high-skilled jobs, and believe the focus of the NAFTA negotiations should be modernizing the agreement, not withdrawing from it.

Though it is often portrayed as a bad deal for their country, data from a recent survey commissioned by Livingston International Inc. and conducted online by a Harris Poll indicate Americans seem to have put the trade deal in context with the broader changes that have taken place in the economy and do not single it out as a principal cause of economic adversity.

Despite often heated rhetoric around the subject, almost half of Americans (45 percent) believe the trade deal has greatly influenced growth in the U.S. economy over the past 20 years and more than half (57 percent) believe a withdrawal from NAFTA is likely to result in a price increase on everyday goods. Only 6 percent of Americans believe the United States should withdraw from the agreement altogether.