The Truth About the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

[bhikkhu]

5. ...and to the South, Mexico has been transformed into a middle class country with full employment

http://johnpaulus.com/blog/2011/08/03/mexico-unemployment-at-4-9-compared-to-9-2-in-the-us/

I'd link to some other article, but it seems most of the coverage of the changes comes from hateful right wing blogs.

In any case, as you say, trade is hardly evil in itself, and perhaps it had done more to level the playing field in North America than anything else. If the trade agreement has lifted Mexico out of a long and crushing poverty at our expense, I have to wonder if our prosperity should require a neighbor to live on scraps again, and how many would like to turn back time and put them back in that position? How much of our wealth was built on a fixed structure of inequality, and advantage gained from exploiting a weak neighbor?