By all objective measures, NAFTA is working well, for the U.S. economy and the U.S. automotive sector. In 2017, U.S.-based automakers produced 11.1 million cars and light trucks. That number has not declined since NAFTA was enacted in 1994, and is in fact above the average annual output of 10.9 million assemblies during the past 30 years. Real U.S. output of motor vehicles and parts, adjusted for inflation and quality, is up 85 percent since the passage of NAFTA, according the Federal Reserve Board.
Because of NAFTA, domestic U.S. automakers have been able to deploy their supply chain across North America, creating lower-value vehicles and parts in Mexico while concentrating higher-end production here in the United States. The result has been a U.S. auto sector that is able to deliver more affordable and higher quality cars and trucks to American families while competing more effectively in global export markets. In recent years, U.S. exports of motor vehicles have topped 2 million for the first time.
Just published: George Selgin’s new monograph, Financial Stability without Central Banks.
I join with Mark Perry in admiring this insight offered by Thomas Sowell.
Shikha Dalmia busts the pernicious myth of chain migration.
Speaking of immigration, Scott Sumner is unimpressed with Dennis Prager’s take on this topic.
Jeff Jacoby rightly refers to the border wall that Trump wants to build as a “wall of shame.”
