the top generator of employment in Mexico. While Mexican economic development has failed miserably, so too has standard of living for many Mexicans. Between 1984 and 1994, and through several currency devaluations, the Mexican poverty rate remained constant at 34% of the population. As of 1997, 60% of the Mexican labor force now lives below the poverty line. Some other startling facts include: Under NAFTA, eight million Mexicans have been pushed into poverty and out of the middle class. Salaried workers in Mexico lost 34% of their purchasing power since 1994, the year NAFTA went into effect.One important, but little-known component of NAFTA is the new power it grants to private corporations to directly attack laws and policies they deem harmful to profitability. Under NAFTA's new investment protections (Chapter 11), the decisions made by local and national governments in all three NAFTA countries are now subject to challenge before NAFTA tribunals by corporate plaintiffs. This provision of NAFTA, which only took effect in 1996, has already produced seven challenges, demanding damage payments in excess of a billion dollars. Remarkably, in every instance these challenges have had little or nothing at all to do with international trade. Rather, public health, environmental zoning and state court civil procedures have been attacked. One such challenge has already led to the repeal of a major public health law in Canada. Knowledgeable observers believe that this initial spate of suits may be the harbinger of a far larger legal onslaught in the coming years as more corporations discover the potential uses of the new tool NAFTA provides. Law and policies can be challengedwhether or not they have anything to do with international tradeas long as an investor or corporation in one country has some actual or potential business interest in the country it wishes to sue.On September 22, 1998, Mexico formally requested formal dispute resolution ( a bi...
