Striving for Fair Trade Opposition to Unjust Trade Agreements (Mar. 2004, Vol. 13, No. 2)

The FTAA is essentially an expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into Central America, South America and the Caribbean.  NAFTA, a trade agreement between Canada,Mexico and the United States, took effect in 1994 and has devastating effects on working families and the environment.  In the United States where many of our sisters serve in parishes, schools, hospitals, clinics,social services, etc. they have seen thousands of people lose their jobs because the factories have moved to Mexico or another country where labor is cheaper. More than 765,000 jobs have disappeared.