United States and NAFTA

domestic groups in the negotiation of the agreement

Abstract

The article analyzes the main arguments that permeated the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), from the point of view of the United States, coming from both the Executive, Legislative and North American internal coalitions. The objective was to demonstrate the hypothesis that the radicalization of the presidential speech was a strategy to guarantee both better conditions of negotiation, as well as the approval of the agreement. To this end, a mapping of statements by domestic groups, such as companies, associations and state governments, and official studies by the congressional research service on foreign policy issues and their hearings was made. This made it possible to identify the sectors of support and opposition to the negotiations, and how the president's radicalized behavior stimulated the constitution of a base to support the permanence of the U.S. in NAFTA after the modernization of the treaty, ensuring its approval in Congress.