Truth is, once people find out what's in these trade pacts, they tend not to like them very much. When a copy of that agreement leaked onto the Internet, Clinton, with the lovable roguishness that has endeared him to liberals across thecountry, pointed to the surreptitious posting as proof the document was available for public scrutiny. Quite the reverse. Within manufacturing, the threat of employers to move production to Mexico proved a powerful weapon for undercutting workers' bargaining power. And it isn't only factory workers who feel theimpact.
Corporations now have the legal means to try to rewrite troublesome laws.
It's cases such as this that make people suspicious of free trade. Exporting production allows for cheaper manufacture of goods, while jobs are created in new labor markets. People in consuming countries get goods at lower prices because they are produced more efficiently. Wages in developing nations rise. Eventually, everybody wins.