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Introduction
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect on January 1, 1994. Ethical controversies arising from NAFTA policies, rules, and procedures reflect its character as more than a regional trade agreement designed to lower barriers to trade across US, Canadian, and Mexican borders. It offers far-reaching guarantees to the rights of foreign investors across NAFTA member state borders, including rigorous protection of intellectual property rights – exceeding World Trade Organization (WTO) standards. In particular, NAFTA prohibitions and sanctions against a variety of “nontariff barriers” have raised ethical concerns about a threat to national sovereignty and democratic control in promulgating and enforcing domestic health and environmental regulations, including food safety standards.
Ethical concerns raised by NAFTA may best be framed as a failure of “moral imagination,” which Patricia Werhane (1999)...
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References
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Calton, J. (2013). NAFTA and the Food and Agricultural Industries. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_424-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_424-1
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