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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Steven Greenhouse

‘Zombie-like’: the US trade agreement that still haunts Democrats

man wearing black suit and tie stands behind microphone and podium with row of people in chairs behind him
Bill Clinton speaks in support of the North American Free Trade Agreement in Washington DC in 1993. Photograph: Diana Walker/Getty Images

More than 30 years have passed since President Bill Clinton persuaded Congress to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) and yet the trade agreement still infuriates many voters and hangs over Kamala Harris’s – and the Democrats’ – chances in this year’s elections.

Zombie-like, Nafta just keeps coming back, decades after many Democrats believe it should have died. At the Republican convention, Donald Trump attacked Nafta, calling it “the worst trade agreement ever”. In speech after speech, Nafta is a topic Trump turns to as he seeks to woo the voters in the pivotal blue-collar communities of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – many of whom remain angry about the job losses it caused.

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