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The Free Trade Agreement (FTA; French: ''Accord de libre-échange'', ALE) was a trade agreement reached by negotiators for Canada and the United States on October 4, 1987 and signed by the leaders of both countries on January 2, 1988. The agreement phased out a wide range of trade restrictions in stages over a ten-year period, and resulted in a great increase in cross-border trade. With the addition of Mexico in 1994 FTA was superseded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (French: ''Accord de libre-échange Nord Américain (ALENA)'', Spanish: ''Tratado de Libre Comercio de Ross América del Norte (TLCAN)'').〔(【引用サイトリンク】website=http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/us-eu.aspx?lang=eng )〕 As stated in the agreement, the main purposes of the Canadian-United States Free Trade Agreement were: *eliminate barriers to trade in goods and services between Canada and the United States; *facilitate conditions of fair competition within the free-trade area established by the Agreement; *significantly liberalize conditions for investment within that free-trade area; *establish effective procedures for the joint administration of the Agreement and the resolution of disputes; *Lay the foundation for further bilateral and multilateral cooperation to expand and enhance the benefits of the Agreement.〔(【引用サイトリンク】website=http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/cusfta-e.pdf )〕 ==History== Starting in 1855, while Canada was under British control, free trade was implemented between the colonies of British North America and the United States under the Reciprocity Treaty. In 1866, a year before Canadian Confederation, the United States Congress voted to cancel the treaty. Free trade with the U.S. has long been a controversial issue in Canada. Historically, Canadians who advocated a closer relationship with the U.S., especially closer economic ties, were portrayed by critics as encouraging political annexation by the United States. Under Canada's first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, the protectionist National Policy—after the failure to achieve a renewal of reciprocity—became a cornerstone of the new Canadian nation's policies toward the United States. The Liberal Party of Canada had traditionally supported free trade. Free trade in natural products was a central issue in the 1911 Canadian federal election. The Conservative Party campaigned using fiery anti-American rhetoric, and the Liberals lost the election. The issue of free trade did not rise to this level of national prominence in Canada again for many decades. From 1935-1980, the two nations entered a number of bilateral trade agreements that greatly reduced tariffs in both nations. The most significant of these agreements was the 1960s Automotive Products Trade Agreement (also known as the Auto Pact). With the success of the Auto Pact, the Canadian Government considered proposing free-trade agreements in other sectors of the economy. However, there was difficulty in finding appropriate sectors; the auto industry with its dominant U.S. ownership was something of a special case. And the U.S. Government was skeptical of sectoral agreements. They were dissatisfied that the Canadian Government was unwilling to phase out the transitional guarantees in the Auto Pact which specified minimum levels of Canadian automotive production. With the sectoral approach apparently a non-starter, Canadian attention turned to the question of a broader free-trade agreement between the two countries.〔On the sectoral issue, see Michael Hart, with Bill Dymond and Colin Robertson, Decision at Midnight; Inside the Canada-US Free Trade Negotiatons. Vancouver: UBC (of British Columbia ) Press, 1994, esp. pp. 57-62.〕 Starting at the time of the negotiation of the Auto Pact of 1965 and running through the next two decades, a number of academic economists studied the economic effects of a free trade agreement between the two countries. Several of them—Ronald Wonnacott and Paul Wonnacott,〔Ronald Wonnacott and Paul Wonnacott, Free Trade Between The United States And Canada: The Potential Economic Effects. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.〕 and Richard G. Harris and David Cox〔Richard G. Harris with David Cox, Trade, Industrial Policy, and Canadian Manufacturing. Toronto: Ontario Economic Council, 1984.〕—concluded that Canadian real GDP would be significantly increased if both U.S. and Canadian tariffs and other trade barriers were removed and Canadian industry could consequently produce at larger, more efficient scale. Other economists on the free-trade side included John Whalley of the University of Western Ontario and Richard Lipsey of the C.D. Howe Institute.〔Hart, Dymond, and Robertson, pp. 4-5, 29-34.〕 On the other side, opponents were concerned that free trade would have negative effects, not only on the economy (it might cause of capital flight and job insecurity due to international outsourcing), but also on the social and political fabric of the country. Closer economic ties with the Giant to the South might risk an erosion of Canadian sovereignty. Opponents included Mel Watkins of the University of Toronto and David Crane of the Toronto Star, one of Canada’s leading newspapers. A number of government studies drew increasing attention to the possibility of a bilateral free-trade negotiation: Looking Outward (1975), by the Economic Council of Canada; several reports of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs (1975, 1978, and 1982); and the report of the Royal Commission chaired by Donald Macdonald (1985). Macdonald declared that “Canadians should be prepared to take a leap of faith”〔As quoted by Hart, Dymond, and Robertson, p. 34〕 and pursue more open trade with the United States. Although Macdonald, the chair of the Royal Commission, was a former Liberal Minister of Finance, the commission’s findings were embraced by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative Party, even though they had opposed a free-trade initiative in the 1984 Canadian election campaign. The stage was set for the beginning of free-trade negotiations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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