September 25, 2024
Bern Jealous
Stories this photo appears in:
Opening Doors of Opportunity Can Heal the Nation
January 1, 1994 is as good a date as any to recognize as the beginning of the end of the US manufacturing sector as we knew it. That is the date the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. Going back to the 1970s, foreign competition in manufacturing had already led to America’s Steel Belt being dubbed the Rust Belt, but NAFTA and other trade agreements like it greatly accelerated factory closures.