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Mar 22, 2017

03/22/2017: Did NAFTA cost jobs, or create them?

We’ve been talking a lot about NAFTA this week, but let’s get down to brass tacks:  What did the North American Free Trade Agreement do? President Donald Trump (not to mention Sen. Bernie Sanders) made NAFTA as a favorite target during the presidential campaign. They’ll both tell you it was a “disaster” for the U.S. economy, that it cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs. The reality is not nearly as dramatic or tidy a story. Then, we’ll look at how negotiating NAFTA could affect your happy hour. Plus, the latest on Sears’ financial woes and more from our series in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Economists estimate that NAFTA has raised U.S. GDP by one half to one percentage point. Above, President Donald Trump, who campaigned on keeping jobs in the U.S., speaks to autoworkers in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Economists estimate that NAFTA has raised U.S. GDP by one half to one percentage point. Above, President Donald Trump, who campaigned on keeping jobs in the U.S., speaks to autoworkers in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

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We’ve been talking a lot about NAFTA this week, but let’s get down to brass tacks:  What did the North American Free Trade Agreement do? President Donald Trump (not to mention Sen. Bernie Sanders) made NAFTA as a favorite target during the presidential campaign. They’ll both tell you it was a “disaster” for the U.S. economy, that it cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs. The reality is not nearly as dramatic or tidy a story. Then, we’ll look at how negotiating NAFTA could affect your happy hour. Plus, the latest on Sears’ financial woes and more from our series in Erie, Pennsylvania.