Beyond Free Trade: Accounting for Labor and Environmental Governance Principles in NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into force in 1994. Building on the foundations of the Canadian-US Free Trade Agreement of 1988, it brought together Canada, Mexico, and the US into the world’s second largest (by nominal GDP) trade area. Like many other post-Cold War trade agreements, NAFTA aimed at the elimination of a variety of tariff and non-tariff barriers to the circulation of goods, capital, and selected services. There was nothing especially unique, therefore, about NAFTA aside from its size