Researching the U.S.-Canada free Trade Agreement

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This is a research guide and bibliography concerning American and Canadian sources of and about the United States—Canada Free Trade Agreement. The Agreement is also called the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Canada-American Free Trade Agreement, or the FTA. Formal negotiations concerning the Agreement began on March 18, 1985 at the “Shamrock Summit” (also called the “Quebec Summit”) with the signing of the Declaration on Trade in Goods and Services by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The history of the FTA negotiations is set forth in the Winham book listed below, in the Department of State Bulletin, in newspapers, and in documents created during U.S. Congressional consideration of implementing legislation such as Senate Report No. 100–509. See also Battram, Canada-United States Trade Negotiations: Continental Accord or a Continent Apart?, 22 International Lawyer 345 (1988). The Agreement was signed by President Reagan and Prime Minister Mulroney on January 2, 1988 and, after implementing legislation was enacted in the United States and Canada, the Agreement entered into force on January 1, 1989. Its main purpose is the elimination of all tariffs on trade between the U.S. and Canada by January 1, 1998.