ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses what North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) meant for United States interests and shows how integrative trends in manufacturing, services, and investments have evolved for NAFTA partners. Although these trends have been the outcome of major transnational companies operating in North America, the continentalization of key industries suggests that North America could be considered as a regional bloc, lacking the institutional architecture to reap the benefits. The chapter suggests that through NAFTA, the United States has attempted to shape and modify domestic industrial, economic, and social policies of key partners, which goes beyond a simple trade-liberalization strategy. It deals with the rationale and content of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agenda and what is at stake for those that were excluded–China, Russia, India, Brazil, and Argentina. The focus of multilateral trade negotiations was hitherto the liberalization of manufacturing and the introduction of disciplines in the use of export subsidies.
