NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA) NAFTA was established in January 1994 to establish free trade between the US, Mexico, an Canada. By 2008, NAFTA had established virtually free trade in almost all goods and services. NAFTA resulted in an amount of trade among only three countries ranking second only to th larger number of countries making up the EU. The controversy surrounding NAFTA has to do with differences in living standards of the thre countries and the fear of lower wages in Mexico "sucking" manufacturing jobs out of the US. See the table below for comparative statistics of the three countries of NAFTA. US in terms of population is 9.2 times larger than Canada (313/34). Yet, US GDP is 10.8 tim higher. US in terms of population is 2.74 times larger than Mexico (313/114). Yet, US GDP is 9.07 times higher