Fourteen Years of NAFTA and the Tortilla Crisis

In January 2008, agricultural trade between Mexico, the United States, and Canada will become completely free, with the end of the implementation period of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). All U.S. and most Canadian products1 will be able to enter Mexico without any duties. The same will occur with Mexico's exports to the other two countries.
NAFTA's agricultural agreement (Chapter VII) promotes the total liberalization of agriculture and forestry in the region. NAFTA commitments related to agriculture between Mexico and the United States are the most radical of any trade agreement, since they include the liberalization of all agricultural and agrifood trade over a maximum period of 14 years. NAFTA is the first treaty to treat two developed countries and an underdeveloped one as equals. But compared to U.S. and Canadian agricultural sectors, Mexico's presents huge asymmetries in terms of economics, technology, production factors, and agricultural policies and supports.