Visa program a NAFTA concern
Businesses are raising concerns about the North American Free Trade Agreement, from what they see as an outdated employee visa program to political wrangling over the deal to potentially breaking down trust with Mexican and Canadian trade partners, immigration and labor attorneys said Thursday.
Luis Campos of the Haynes and Boone law firm in Houston addressed these and other concerns raised by business clients during a gathering at Rice University’s Baker Institute to discuss NAFTA’s future.
He acknowledged that the visa program, which authorizes free travel for trained personnel in 60 professions, fails to account for several new jobs created over the two decades NAFTA has been on the books. Most of the jobs stem from advances in information technology.
He and others said they hope visa qualifications will be expanded during NAFTA renegotiations set to resume next month.
But they also said they are alarmed at a recent rise in holders of the preapproved visas being denied entry to the U.S. Campos pointed to a case in January in which Canadian nurses were
turned away shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the hiring of thousands more Customs and Border Patrol agents, which bolstered agents’ enforcement at entry points.
“We’re concerned that there’s an uneven and unpredictable application of the law,” Campos said.
Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute’s Mexico Center, acknowledged legitimate complaints over NAFTA’s economic outcomes since it took effect in 1994, particularly when it comes to the U.S. government’s lack of investment in infrastructure, Mexico’s low wages and Canada’s call for a more streamlined border-crossing process in the transport of goods.
Yet many at Thursday’s event said blame lies not with the treaty itself but with political leaders who failed to seize some of the opportunities it afforded them. One example cited was Mexican leaders’ failure to legislate wage increases.
“NAFTA hasn’t been perfect, but the political systems haven’t done what they needed to do to minimize the negative outcomes,” said Eugenio Aleman, senior economist at Wells Fargo.
However, an attempt to dismantle the agreement altogether could set the U.S. up for economic, political and cultural losses, Payan said.
Already, he said, Mexican presidential candidates are making NAFTA a linchpin of what could be anti-American campaigns when they get fully underway in March.