Lighthizer: NAFTA has failed many americans

It’s an historical day for the United States as the first round of negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), got underway Wednesday morning in Washington D.C.

In effect since January 1994, NAFTA created a Free Trade Zone between Canada, Mexico and the United States. President Donald Trump has called the trade pact “the worst trade ever made by any country.”

Trump says the U.S. has lost “millions” of manufacturing jobs to Mexico due to cheaper labor costs. However, a majority of agriculture trade groups have urged the White House and U.S. Trade Representative’s office to “do no harm” to NAFTA which has boosted exports of U.S. grain and other agricultural products.

During a news conference Wednesday, prior to the onset of talks, three trade representatives of each country met with reporters. Read the rest of the story here.