Thursday, July 07, 2016

Why is labor mobility only central to free trade in the EU?

It is interesting how in the EU labor mobility is considered to be central to the concept of free trade, but that does not seem to be a part of any of the U.S.'s "free trade" agreements. NAFTA did not open the border with Mexico (at least not for people). The TPP does not mean that Vietnamese citizens will be able to come and work in the U.S. without a visa.

I'm not commenting on the relative merits of the two approaches. I'm just struck by the differences between Europe and North America when they think about free trade areas.