17;Estaing who was looking for a solution after the demise of the Bretton Woods systemand saw the need for international economic stability. These summits are held yearly withgrowing participation from the global community. The main goals at these summits isglobal economic stabilization within the context of important political issues. Brink Lindsey, a trade attorney in Washington DC, also believes that free tradewill benefit the United States’ economy. According to Lindsey, not only will producersbenefit from free trade, but consumers will as well. The US industries will benefit fromforeign markets and the drive for competition, so free trade should become thecornerstone of American policy. One of the most important trade agreements of thetwentieth century that reflects this viewpoint is The North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA), which was signed in August of 1992 and involved the U.S.,Canada, and Mexico. This agreement seeks to remove tariffs and other trade impedimentsin automobiles, energy, agriculture, banking, advertising, textiles, and other areas. Itsmain initiative is to enhance prosperity in all three countries, which encompasses 370million people. The United States may have come out victorious during the Cold War, but nowthe military competition has been replaced by economic confrontation (mainly between theUS, Europe, and Japan). A good example of the tensions between the United States,Japan, and Europe can be best seen in The Uruguay Round which lasted from 1986-1993. The Uruguay Round addressed some explosive issues such as rules for governingintellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, agricultural subsidies, and trade in services. Few issues such as these ignited great hostility between these three nations as these did. But by far the most controversial issue was that of agricultural subsides because it isdeeply imbedded in the domestic politics of most every nation. Efforts to reduceagricultural...
