ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author analyzes some of the policies leading up to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), what this agreement has meant for the peoples of North America, and its midterm prospects within the North American community. The road leading to NAFTA was neither straight nor smooth. It is the author's belief that Mexico took this path in a great leap of faith, mistaking NAFTA for that elusive "easy road" to economic growth and development. The experience with conflict resolution under the Free Trade Agreement seems to be highly positive and much more efficient than the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) conflict resolution structure. In view of the analysis, NAFTA and the recently concluded Uruguay Round are inadequate instruments to deal with economic near-calamities of the type that face Mexico.
