The North American Economy and NAFTA/USMCA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in December 1992 and entered into force on January 1, 1994, progressively eliminating most tariffs and non-tariff barriers on goods traded among the three countries and creating, at the time, one of the largest free-trade zones in the world by combined gross domestic product. NAFTA reshaped continental supply chains, encouraging manufacturers to distribute production stages across all three countries rather than concentrate them within a single national market.