Duke University will bring a series of experts together later this month to examine the social, political and environmental effects of the 20-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.
The one-day conference on Oct. 22 will be a warts-and-all analysis of NAFTA since it was created to spur North American trade 20 years ago. It will also cast a critical eye on issues facing the countries involved -- the United States, Canada and Mexico -- going forward.
The conference: “NAFTA@20: The Future of North American Competitiveness,” is free and open to the public. (Registration information is available here; parking is available in the Science Drive visitor’s lot)
It will be held in Geneen Auditorium at the Fuqua School of Business and begins at 8:30 a.m. with remarks from Roberta S. Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Other sessions will feature government officials, industry leaders and academic experts from the United States, Canada and Mexico. A full agenda is available here. The conference website is here.
After two decades, NAFTA has proven critical to the growth of industries as varied as textiles, aerospace and automobile manufacturing and is a natural topic for study, said Jane Moss, the director of Duke’s North American Studies program and a co-organizer of the conference.
“It was really a way for the United States to compete in the global market,” she said. “And it has become a model for future trade compacts.”