NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION.

Over the past decade the United States has increasingly turned its attention toward regional trade liberalisation, beginning first with the US-Israel reciprocal tariff agreement of 1984, followed by the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and now negotiations with Mexico to form a trilateral North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). The reasons for the US policy shift are not entirely clear, though some possibilities include US frustration with the slow progress in the GATT, a desire to improve access for US trade and investment in the markets of two of its largest trade partners and, in the case of Mexico, to enhance the competitive position of the United States through association with a low-cost supplier. Its interest in Mexico in particular also stems from a desire to strengthen democratic institutions along its borders, control illegal immigration, and facilitate drug interdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]