Those border passport provisions had nothing to do with NAFTA. They were a George W. Bush program, implemented after 9-11.
Nope. The passport began to be required for travel to and from Canada in about 1995. I have very specific recollections of nearly not being allowed into Canada with only my dirver’s license as a identification on a business trip to Ottowa. My wife Fedex-ed my passport to me at my hotel for the trip back home.