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Article: The hidden costs of free trade
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- November 5, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WE HAVE already seen the devastating effects of the North
American Free Trade Agreement in Massachusetts. According to
conservative estimates, more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs have
been lost in the last decade alone. Nationally, at least 3 million
jobs have been sent offshore, and the wage gap continues to expand.
Our trading partners have suffered, too - with huge increases in
inequality and massive displacement. For example, at least 1.3
million Mexican farmers have lost their livelihood under NAFTA. As a
result, the number of annual immigrants from Mexico to the United
States surged from 332,000 in 1993, the year before NAFTA went into
effect, to 530,000 in 2000 - a 60 percent ...