AGRICULTURAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION UNDER NAFTA: REPORTING ON THE REPORT CARD

Fairchild and Aubin

Table 14: Agreement as to Whether NAFTA Improved Market-Access

Opportunities-Percent Response for Each Report Card by
Country and Total.______________________________________

Source: Compiled from response data.

percent. Thus, the information presented in the workshop seems to have been
interpreted differently based on the home county of the workshop participant,
or pointed out differences in market access opportunities across countries.

Bilateral Trade Disputes

Before the workshop, about one-fourth of Canadian and one-fifth of
American participants believed that the number of trade disputes among NAFTA
countries had decreased slightly since NAFTA (Table 15). After the workshop,
this position was held by only seven percent of Canadians and six percent of
Americans. In both report cards, none of the workshop participants reported
believing that trade disputes had decreased significantly since NAFTA. Mexi-
can participant opinions were the most pessimistic with responses indicating
that they believed trade disputes had increased slightly or significantly since
NAFTA or they did not know.

Compared to the first report card, the proportion of respondents in the
second report card from Canada and the United States believing the number of
disputes had stayed the same increased, with the Canadian proportion increas-
ing more than three-fold (Table 15). While the workshop proceedings resulted
in a decrease in the proportion of Canadians and Mexicans thinking that trade
disputes had increased slightly, the impact on U.S. participants was just the
opposite, as the proportion in this category nearly doubled between the first
and second report card. The proportion of participants from all three countries
who believed that trade disputes had increased significantly since NAFTA de-

<<   <   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   >   >>