(2024-0112-S) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

This collection consists of records concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that were processed in commemoration of the 30th anniversary in 2023. Researchers should consult the archivist about related material. The idea for a North American free trade zone between the United States, Canada, and Mexico began under the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Negotiations continued throughout the administration of President George H.W. Bush, and the leaders of the three nations signed the resulting agreement on December 17, 1992. The agreement then needed to be ratified by the legislative body of each country. In the United States, President Bush, who had lost his reelection campaign, passed the task off to newly elected President William Jefferson Clinton. President Clinton, who also supported NAFTA, worked with Congress throughout his first year in office to complete the ratification process. The treaty cleared the House and the Senate in November of that year. President Clinton signed it into law on December 8, 1993. The agreement went into effect in January. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replaced NAFTA in 2020. The collection contains several briefing materials and memos regarding NAFTA and the ratification effort in the United States. There is a sample briefing book on NAFTA for elected officials and business leaders in the files of Counselor to the President David Gergen. Samuel Berger’s transition files contain briefing materials for an early January 1993 meeting between President-elect Clinton and Mexican President Carlos Salinas concerning NAFTA. In the NSC Records Management System numbered documents, there are memos from the spring and summer of 1993 discussing building public and Congressional support for the ratification of the agreement.