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 Editorials | Opinions | January 2007 
Think Free Trade Agreements Work? Look at Mexico
 Kristen Petros - Spotsylvania
In his Dec. 21 op-ed ["Want peace on Earth, good will toward men? Support free trade"], Donald J. Boudreaux contends that free trade promotes peace and reduces conflict between nations.
Using Mexico as a case in point, I argue that the opposite is true. I encourage Mr. Boudreaux to take a step down from the ivory tower to reflect upon the ways in which neoliberal trade agreements such as NAFTA have had devastating effects on communities, families, and individual human beings south of the border.
While free trade agreements may indeed represent a boon for transnational corporations, massive agrobusinesses, and elite government officials, they have negatively affected the lives and well-being of thousands of indigenous peoples, peasants, and working-class Mexicans.
Moreover, these policies have contributed to the decimation of Mexico's agricultural sector.
As U.S. agricultural imports such as corn continue to flood Mexican markets, small-scale farmers are losing their livelihoods at unprecedented rates, pushing individuals, families, and even entire communities to migrate to urban areas in search of stable employment.
Migration frequently places a strain on marriages, divides families, and all too often results in death for immigrants who journey across the Mexico-U.S. border in search of economic stability.
Rather than seeking to understand and address the root causes of Mexican migration to the U.S., the current administration has chosen to turn a blind eye to the issue, instead opting to militarize the border and construct a physical and powerfully symbolic barrier between "us" and "them."
Far from generating "peace," free trade with the U.S. has resulted in soaring unemployment rates, endemic poverty, and dislocation for a growing number of people in Mexico.
I encourage readers to play their part in the movement for social justice by learning about and supporting fair - rather than free - trade. |
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