Why did Canada join NAFTA?
Canada was initially cold to the idea of expanding the FTA to a third country. The politicians in Ottawa were always reticent toward the FTA and were questioning the wisdom of adding more problems. However, through sheer pragmatism, they came to realize that the US and Mexico would sign an agreement with or without Canada participating. They then assumed that such an agreement would draw investment capital away from Canada and, in all likelihood, require some kind of separate Canada-Mexico agreement. Another initial misconception was that many Canadians assumed Mexico to be just another “poor country”. To their dismay, when the numbers were added up, they discovered that the average Mexican consumer was buying more Canadian products annually ($US 325) than a Japanese ($US 300) or a European ($US 200).[3] Another case where old prejudices had to be overcome by economic facts. There was also fear that a soaring US dollar and an ever increasing US trade deficit would potentially lead to p
