NAFTA's uninvited guest: China and the disintegration of North American trade

This paper examines the extent to which China's entry into the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in 2001 and subsequent surge in global exports affected the
composition of trade between the United States and Mexico through 2009. The
authors found that China's entry had a significant impact on the trade relations
between these two North American countries, replacing and displacing many of the
export strongholds in place before China joined the WTO and after the first stage
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (1994-2000). Based on this
research, the authors offer a variety of policy options for reinvigorating United States-
Mexico trade and cooperating with China in the global economy.