NAFTA
...ions. Before NAFTA, trade relations were based on the rules in the Generalized System of Preferences, which were unilaterally defined by the United States and changed constantly, so it was useful to enter into discussions on more stable rules developed through a multilateral process. The problem lies in the orientation with which that agreement was negotiated and the concrete rules agreed upon. It is important to take into account that NAFTA is much more than an agreement on trade liberalization. It goes far beyond the rules in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to include provisions on many issues that are only now beginning to be discussed in the WTO, issues such as investment, intellectual-property rights, competition policy, government procurement and services that many countries insist have no place in such an accord. NAFTA, for example, includes rules on the entire agricultural sector, which no developed country has ever completely liberalized. NAFTA was yet another step in the extension of neo-liberal policies, which were first imposed on many countries through the conditions attached to ...