NAFTA and CAFTA Starting Points

Doing some research on free trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA-DR? Here are some good places to start:

Find summaries and the full text of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR agreements (among others), advisory reports, press releases, fact sheets, etc. at the Office of the United States Trade Representative Website.

CQ Public Affairs Collection is a great place to find legislative chronologies and summaries of trade agreements. See Public Affairs Topics: International Trade & Development. (Requires OCA Access)

Interested in the environmental impacts of NAFTA? Check out the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

For a wealth of resources on trade in the Americas, including links to statistical data sources, research on trade and gender, etc., visit the Organization of American State's Foreign Trade Information System.

Congress has held a great deal of hearings on NAFTA and CAFTA-DR agreements. Find them in electronic and/or print format using the UCSC library catalog Cruzcat. Try the subjects "Free Trade-- North America" and "Free Trade-- Central America." And for information on finding Congressional Research Service reports, check out the Gov Pubs Reference Shelf: Congress & CRS.

For practical business-oriented information on exporting under free trade agreements, try Export.gov.

Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these trade agreements. For additional assistance in finding information on more specific aspects of these and similar trade agreements, you can visit the reference desk in McHenry library, speak with a UCSC librarian via IM or email, and/or contact the government publications staff.