The automotive industry and NAFTA: American companies

Abstract

In the perspective of the automotive industry, NAFTA was the result of the strategies followed by car assemblers such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to access the Mexican market both as a supplier of cheap, abundant and skilled labor, and as a market for their products. It also permitted access to a country that provided them with tax and employment benefits. In the 20 years of NAFTA, the policies in the industry they have been dictated by these assemblers  In 2013 there were more than 3 million vehicles assembled in Mexico, employing more than 65 thousand workers in assembly plants and 530 thousand in the auto parts industry.