Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy by William H. Cooper, CRS Specialist in International Trade and Finance. Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
Updated June 24, 2005.
In the last few years, the United States has engaged or has proposed to engage in negotiations to establish bilateral and regional free trade arrangements with a number of trading partners. Such arrangements are not new in U.S. trade policy. The United States has had a free trade arrangement with Israel since 1985 and with Canada since 1989, which was expanded to include Mexico and became the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) effective in January 1994. The United States has been conducting negotiations with 33 Western Hemispheric countries with a stated goal of forming a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005 and with various Asian and Pacific-Rim countries to achieve free trade and investment by 2020.

Immigration Issues in Trade Agreements by Ruth Ellen Wasem, CRS Specialist in Immigration Policy. Domestic Social Policy Division.
Updated July 11, 2005.
Immigration issues often raised in the context of the FTAs include whether FTAs should contain provisions that expressly expand immigration between the countries as well as whether FTAs should require that the immigrant-sending countries restrain unwanted migration (typically expressed as illegal aliens). The question of whether the movement of people - especially temporary workers - is subsumed under the broader category of "provision of services" and thus an inherent part of any free trade agreement also arises. Even in FTAs that do not have explicit immigration provisions there is a debate over the effects that FTAs may have on future migration.

NAFTA at Ten: Lessons from Recent Studies by J. F. Hornbeck, CRS Specialist in International Trade and Finance. Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
February 13, 2004.
NAFTA's anniversary has sparked numerous evaluations, which are particularly relevant as the United States pursues free trade agreements with multiple Latin American countries. Most studies found that NAFTA's effects on the U.S. and Mexican economies to be modest at most. This report provides an analytical summary of the economic lessons reached in support of Congress's role in the trade policy process. It will be updated as needed.

Trade Agreements: Procedure for Congressional Approval and Implementation by Vladimir N. Pregel, CRS Specialist in International Trade and Finance. Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
Updated March 16, 2005.
Trade agreements on tariff-and-nontariff barriers, including those establishing free-trade areas, must be approved and implemented by the enactment of implementing bills, for the consideration of which expedited legislative procedures have been enacted. The procedures, initially referred to as "fast track" and more recently as "trade authorities procedures," provide for mandatory introduction and consideration of an implementing bill with deadlines for individual legislative stages, prohibit any amendments, and require an up-or-down vote.