Ben Jealous: Opening Doors of Opportunity Can Heal the Nation

President Bill Clinton signs supplemental agreements to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ceremony in the East Room of the White House on September 14, 1993. He is joined by former President Gerald R. Ford, Representative Tom Foley, Senator George Mitchell, former President Jimmy Carter, Senator Bob Dole, former President George H.W. Bush, Representative William Ford and Vice President Albert Gore (Photo Credit: Ralph Alswang, White House Photograph Office). By Ben Jealous If you want to heal America you have to understand what is hurting America. Jan. 1, 1994 is as good a date as any to recognize as the beginning of the end of the US manufacturing sector as we knew it. That is the date the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. Going back to the 1970s, foreign competition in manufacturing had already led to America’s Steel Belt being dubbed the Rust Belt, but NAFTA and other trade agreements like it greatly accelerated factory closures.& “The passage of NAFTA remains one of the most consequential events in recent American political and economic history,” reads a recent New York Times Magazine deep dive into the impacts of the trade agreement. “Between 1997 and 2020, more...