Bill Clinton

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NAFTA @20: Where We Go From Here

By Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Léon

The North American Free Trade Agreement created more jobs for Mexicans, but it was only a start.

In his December 8, 1993, remarks at the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), then-U.S. President Bill Clinton observed that the treaty debate had become a “symbolic struggle for the spirit of our country and for how we would approach this very difficult and rapidly changing world dealing with our own considerable challenges here at home.”

Yet, just as fundamentally, NAFTA was a defining moment for the Clinton presidency itself, and a shining example of the kind of bipartisan unity that eludes the United States today—which is why, looking back on the prosperity, stability and growth that NAFTA helped to achieve, I find myself yearning for the kind of enlightened leadership that made it possible in the first place...

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