<P> North American Free Trade Agreement's impact on United States employment has been the object of ongoing debate since the 1994 inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico . NAFTA's proponents believe that more jobs were ultimately created in the USA . Opponents see the agreements as having been costly to well - paying American jobs . </P> <P> The economic impacts of NAFTA have been modest . In a 2015 report, the Congressional Research Service summarized multiple studies as follows: "In reality, NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics or the large economic gains predicted by supporters . The net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP . However, there were worker and firm adjustment costs as the three countries adjusted to more open trade and investment among their economies ." </P>

What was one of the effects of nafta