Scholar: NAFTA has helped Mexico, but not enough

10:15 p.m. January 27, 2008

NAFTA has done the job it was negotiated for, but it has not been enough, a Mexican political economist says.

Gustavo Vega, director of the Center for International Studies at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, said that while NAFTA has helped create more jobs for Mexicans, it has not helped create enough of them.

Still, had it not been for passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, Mexico would have suffered a much-greater financial crisis after its economy crashed in December 1994, he said.

“It helped us to recover from the crisis sooner rather than later,” Vega told the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego on Tuesday. Two million jobs were created in Mexico between 1995 to 2001, according to Vega. “But we need a million every year. It is not enough,” he said.

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This story is significant because NAFTA did not bring about the many jobs Mexixo expected. They feel as if NAFTA has done some good but has not fulfilled all the expectations.