Foreign Trade And Maquilas

North America has consistently economically integrated since the 1980s, when Mexico entered the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the maquila regime. The integration was boosted with the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994. The NAFTA accelerated the process of integration by eliminating tariffs for goods originating from North America, opening the services sector to foreign investment, and providing businesses with a rules-based system including a binding dispute settlement mechanism for investor-State disputes. After over 25 years of operation, the NAFTA needed to be reviewed and updated to reflect the circumstances of the XXI century, which resulted in the negotiation of the United States -Mexico-Canada Agreement and is scheduled to enter into force on July 1, 2020.¹