The ALÉNA or Agreement of North-American free trade (in English, North American Free Trade Agreement shortened in NAFTA , Spanish TLC : Tratado de Libre Comercio or TLCAN : Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte ) is a treaty creating a zone of Libre-échange between the three countries of North America: the Mexico, the the United States and the Canada. It came into effect on January 1st 1994.

The negotiations were launched by the government of the the United States under the presidency of George Bush father, it has as an interlocutor the representative of the Canadian government, Brian Mulroney. And on the Mexican side , the president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Although it is partly an answer to the Traité of Maastricht, signed on February 7th, 1992, the ALÉNA (which had started with a Common Market) does not have vocation to create Institution S Supranationale S, like the European Union, having a legislative power: it is closer to a International treaty. Since its setting-up, the majority of the products general public of the continent of North America are delivered with information into three Langue S: English, Spanish and French.

The US governments being succeeded since its ratification always wished themselves to extend it to all the continent under the name of Free exchange zone of Americas (ZLEA). However, such an extension meets sharp oppositions in South America. Thus, the Zapatist S of EZLN are opposite there.

This one is also confronted with the opposition of the movements altermondialists fighting, more generally against the Libre-échange, which under its current form is limited only to retail parks and economic treaties and does not allow, according to them, which with the Biens and commercial services to circulate freely, without granting the same rights to the populations. The equality in rights can be obtained, always according to the theses altermondialists, only by political agreements as well as a Codéveloppement, and not by a free action of the market.

On the states-unien national plan, the reformer Ross Perot, twice candidate with the presidential election where it obtains in 1992 the honourable score of 18,9% of the voices, actively fought against this treaty. The reforming left, of which he was the leader, militates today still for abrogation and a fortiori against the extension of this treaty.

See too

Related articles

• Agreement of free trade canado-American (ALE) which preceded the ALENA
• Économie by Mexico | Economy of the United States | Economy of Canada
• Maquiladora

External bond

• Official site of the organization

Simple: North American Free Trade Agreement