Ambassador Carla Hills was George H.W. Bush’s trade representative during NAFTA‘s initial drafting in the early 1990s. She sat down with The West Block‘s Vassy Kapelos this weekend in Washington.
As for U.S. President Donald Trump’s vocal criticism of NAFTA, Hills maintained that the trade agreement she helped create 25 years ago was one of the best in the world.
“I wish those around (Trump) would explain what the NAFTA actually does. And that it created a market with 490 million consumers with $19 trillion dollars of output. That it opened up the three markets so that they could trade together.”
NAFTA may even have helped birth the World Trade Organization itself, she added.
“I believe it would not have happened without that competitive liberalization that started here in North America.”
Still, Hills agrees that NAFTA was an agreement for a different era, and that it is in dire need of a 21st-century updat that reflects the modern, digitally driven economy.
“It’s kind of like upgrading an old but lovely house. You should paint it once in a while, and the NAFTA needs a good coat of paint,” Hills told Kapelos, noting that a single trade agreement cannot be blamed for job losses in America.
“wher the United States has fallen short is to recognize that as the economy has moved more rapidly toward electronic and media coverage, that jobs have changed.”
Watch the full interview with Ambassador Carla Hills above.
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