In recent years, some politicians and pundits have charged that trade is harmful to the American worker.  In short, these voices allege that trade has destroyed American jobs, undermined manufacturers, and pushed wages down.  This primer responds to these charges by providing facts, statistics, and useful context on the performance of the U.S. economy over the past fifteen years. 

The benefits of trade far outweigh the costs, but those few who do lose their jobs due to trade deserve help. The Chamber has laid out a set of principles relating to modernization of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).

 

 

In most cases, this primer refers to the performance of the U.S. economy since 1994, which was chosen because the United States entered a period of closer engagement with the world economy at that time.  The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into force on January 1, 1994, eliminating tariffs and other trade barriers between the United States, Canada, and Mexico over the course of 14 years.  The Uruguay Round Final Act entered into force on January 1, 1995, lowering tariffs among the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was itself a product of the Uruguay Round negotiations.