markets, and at this lower price level the quantity demanded of U.S. goods increased. Therefore it becomes less expensive for U.S. firms to supply goods to Canada and Mexico as the supply curve shifts upward. In order to meet the new demand, the firms must hire new workers and increase investment. Between 1994 and 1997, 90 to 160 thousand jobs were created in the U.S. due to the increase of trade with Mexico, and 2.4 million jobs were dependent upon trade with Mexico and Canada (Harbrecht 12). The increase in employment and investment then leads to increased national income. The work of NAFTA has also served to benefit Mexico's economy; in accordance with the United States' economy, Mexico's exports have increased, more than doubling since 1993. The elimination of investment barriers has caused a dramatic rise in foreign investment from four billion in 1993 to ten billion dollars in 1998. NAFTA has enabled Volkswagen, IBM, and the textile industry to seek labor and materials in Mexico. In 1994, a Canada-based entrepreneur invested four million dollars in a metal-stamping plant. The plant is now a major material suppler for Volkswagen although it was originally intended to employ only 130 people. The plant currently employs 1,300 workers and generates 57 million dollars in sales each year (Ebrahim 24). NAFTA has also allowed IBM to create plants in Guadalajara that would otherwise have been built in Asia. As a result, the exports of IBM de Mexico have increased from 350 million to 2 billion dollars in five years and the increased exports have created over 270 jobs (Ebrahim 26). Mexico's textile industry, too, has grown as a result of NAFTA, in 1996 overtaking China to become the largest supplier of textiles to the United States. U.S. mills invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build plants in Mexico as an effect of the reduced tariffs and shipping time. It takes only eighteen hours to ship goods to the Mexican border, while it takes ...
