[Pessimist]

These are not jobs which came from either Canada or Mexico. NAFTA is an agreement between us and them. It has nothing to do with German or Japanese manufacturers locating here.

To look at auto employment by German or Japanese firms and imply that its a result of NAFTA is disengenuous.

[Toddsterpatriot]

These are not jobs which came from either Canada or Mexico. NAFTA is an agreement between us and them. It has nothing to do with German or Japanese manufacturers locating here.

To look at auto employment by German or Japanese firms and imply that its a result of NAFTA is disengenuous.

I think the point was NAFTA was going to destroy America's manufacturing. These foreign manufacturers could just as easily built their plants in Canada or Mexico and then sent the cars to the US duty free after NAFTA. Yet they built the plants here. So much for the theory that NAFTA would destroy our manufacturing.

[Joe Miner]

To look at auto employment by German or Japanese firms and imply that its a result of NAFTA is disengenuous.

Since we don't know where the number 300,000 came from its hard to say whether he is correct or incorrect. But some of the jobs created here by German and Japanese auto manufacturers could be due to them exporting cars from here into Canada and Mexico because of NAFTA tariff reductions between the three countries.

So it might or might not be disingenuous, there are not enough facts to say one way or the other.

[LowCountryJoe]

This isn't sarcasm. It is an acknowledgment that you are, in fact, correct in your criticism of that sentence. If I had to guess, the author had two ideas and combined them into one thought in a single sentence. It was a clumsy argument to make that the job inflow could be contributed to NAFTA. So, my earlier response to you was not only unwarranted, but it makes me look like an ass.

But, to aid the "trade is good" crowd - which I'm a proud member of - this job gain does in fact show that capital mobility and WTO principles are not hurting us, as many of the isolationists would like us to believe, but indeed helping us.