North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA; Spanish: Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; French: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral rules-based trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

NAFTA has two supplements: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).

Negotiation and U.S. ratification

Following diplomatic negotiations dating back to 1990 among the three nations, U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, each responsible for spearheading and promoting the agreement, ceremonially signed the agreement in their respective capitals on December 17, 1992. The signed agreement then needed to be ratified by each nation's legislative or parliamentary branch.

Nafta (disambiguation)

NAFTA is an acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Nafta or NAFTA may also refer to:

See also

Nafta (oil company)

Nafta was an oil distribution chain owned by the Soviet Union but operated abroad.

In the 1920s, a Nafta chain operated in Sweden, before being sold to Gulf Oil in 1937. In the UK and Belgium a petrol chain was built up in the 1960s, with the British service stations being sold to Q8 in 1987.

It is rumoured that these were used as spy bases during the Cold War.

References