NAFTA in Transition

Randall White is the author of Voice of Region: On the Long Journey to
Senate Reform in Canada and Global Spin: Probing the Globalization
Debate.

This updated edition of a volume that was formerly titled North America
Without Borders (which was published not long after the enactment of the
North American Free Trade Agreement) sets out to provide “an overview
of the background and context of issues that have played, and will play,
a role in shaping the future of Ca-nada, the United States and
Mexico.” An underlying theme of the book’s 24 essays—which were
contributed by academic experts from all three countries—is that the
collective future of NAFTA’s participants “cannot be understood, let
alone legitimately defined, solely in economic terms.” Indeed, based
on its first three years of existence, NAFTA is probably not going to
evolve very rapidly into anything much more than a narrow (and perhaps
not all that significant) economic arrangement.

NAFTA in Transition provides some intriguing insights into the changing
meaning of the trade agreement. A wide range of opinions on the subject
are represented, and the writing is for the most part nontechnical and
accessible to general readers. Despite the trilateral subject matter,
the book’s emphasis is distinctly Canadian.