Bill Clinton signed it into law, and it took effect in 1995. For the next six years, the United States economy had

some of the most rapid job growth and low unemployment in its history. Those who feared that open trade with

Mexico would lead to a dramatic decrease in jobs were proven wrong.

This result was no surprise to economists. After all, the trend toward globalization has been going on for

decades, not just since NAFTA. If trade reduced the number of available jobs, then the United States should

have been seeing a steady loss of jobs for decades. While the United States economy does experience rises and

falls in unemployment rates, the number of jobs is not falling over extended periods of time. The number of

U.S. jobs rose from 71 million in 1970 to 150 million in 2021.

Protectionism certainly saves jobs in the specific industry being protected but, for two reasons, it costs jobs in
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