| Summary: | Background
NAFTA was the most expansive
agreement of its kind when it came into force in 1994. Contemporary trade negotiations grapple with how to deal with tobacco, but there is limited assessment of industry influence of past agreements
and how adopted measures have impacted tobacco control.
Methods
We reviewed internal documents dating from the 1980s to understand
the industry's influence of NAFTA negotiations and implementation. We also analysed transnational tobacco
companies' (TTCs) business strategies among NAFTA countries before and after
the agreement using secondary
sources, news articles, industry reports and policy
documents. We compiled trade data using
the UN Comtrade Database and Trade Map Databases. Data was organized by date and company, and iteratively
reviewed to build a narrative related to the tobacco industry
and NAFTA.
Results
TTCs actively lobbied policymakers to include
tobacco under NAFTA and specific provisions related to taxation, rules of origin and tariff
rate quotas. The industry publicly argued
that NAFTA would yield economic benefits to the US and Canada by increasing exports
and employment. Privately, TTCs were
planning to restructure operations on a North American scale towards a regional
business strategy. This strategy was then
pursued once NAFTA came into effect, resulting in large-scale decline of US and
Canadian operations, and buying up of Mexican companies. TTCs consequently realised greater economies
of scale, cheaper inputs and new market access.
Conclusions
The tobacco industry has supported
the inclusion of tobacco under trade and investment agreements on the grounds of
economic benefits to signatory countries.
NAFTA suggests the industry supports agreements to
further regional and global business strategies. Far from serving the interests of local
farmers and workers, NAFTA further enabled tobacco industry globalization. The findings provide evidence of the need to protect
trade negotiations from industry influence, and reject industry efforts to
leverage public health protections for promised economic gains.
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