Not only are none of these other countries a member of NAFTA, but none have a free trade agreement with the United States. Since NAFTA, trade between the United States and its North American neighbors has more than tripled and grown faster than U.S. trade with the rest of the world. Canada and Mexico are the top two destinations for U.S. exports, with a share of more than one-third. Most estimates conclude that the agreement has increased U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by less than 0.5%, which equates to an additional $80 billion over the U.S. economy, with full implementation or several billion dollars of additional growth per year. According to a study published in the Journal of International Economics, NAFTA reduced U.S. manufacturing pollution: “On average, nearly two-thirds of U.S. manufacturing reductions in coarse particulate matter (PM10) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) between 1994 and 1998 can be attributed to trade liberalization to NAFTA.” [100] According to a 2013 article by Jeff Faux by the Economic Policy Institute, California, Texas, Michigan and other high-concentration manufacturing states were most affected by NAFTA job losses.

[97] According to a 2011 article by EPI economist Robert Scott, the trade agreement has “lost or supplanted” some 682,900 U.S. jobs. [98] Recent studies have agreed with congressional Research Service reports that NAFTA has little influence on manufacturing employment and automation, accounting for 87% of manufacturing job losses. [99] In 2016, economists David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson balanced a [PDF] document for the U.S. labor market for the National Bureau of Economic Research. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the Trump administration`s goal was to “stop the haemorrhages” of trade deficits, plant closures and job losses, pushing for tougher labor and environmental measures in Mexico and removing “Chapter 19 of the Dispute Settlement Mechanism” – a Canadian favorite and a thorn in the side of the United States.