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The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trade agreement between the governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico, took effect on January 1, 1994. The objective of NAFTA was to essentially create a free trade zone in North America by eliminating barriers to investment and trade among the three signatory nations. As soon as NAFTA took effect, the tariffs on a majority of the goods produced by the three nations were eliminated. For instance, tariffs on more than one-third of the goods exported by the United States to Mexico and on more than one-half of the goods exported by Mexico to the United States were eliminated. Furthermore, the majority of the remaining barriers to the movement of services and goods and to cross-border investment among the United States, Canada and Mexico were eliminated gradually over a period of 15 years.
environmental protection laws because they will be seen as trade barriers between the three signatory nations. Regardless of their points of contention, both proponents and opponents of NAFTA agree that it is unique because it is the first regional trade agreement between two developed nations and a developing nation. They also generally agree that NAFTA's full impact has not yet been determined.