It was also the first Canadian election to use a lot of negative publicity; Anti-free trade advertising showed that negotiators were “moving away” from the free trade agreement, which turned out to be the Canada-U.S. border at the end of advertising. Although some opinion polls showed that there were slightly more Canadians against the deal than for him, the Mulroney Progressive Conservatives took advantage of being the only party in favour of the deal, while the Liberals and the NDP divided the vote on free trade. In addition, future Quebec premiers Jacques Parizeau and Bernard Landry supported the agreement, which was seen as a factor in supporting the PC party in Quebec. [16] Mulroney won a government majority and the agreement was introduced into law, even though a majority of voters had voted for parties opposed to free trade. [17] [18] The United States, Mexico and Canada have accepted non-discrimination and transparency obligations with respect to sales and distribution, as well as labelling and certification provisions, to avoid technical impediments to trade in distilled wine and spirits. They agreed to continue to recognize bourbon whiskey, tennessee whiskey, tequila, mezcal and Canadian whiskey as distinctive products. Although NAFTA has not kept all its promises, it has remained in place. Indeed, in 2004, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) extended NAFTA to five Central American countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua). In the same year, the Dominican Republic joined the group in signing a free trade agreement with the United States, followed by Colombia in 2006, Peru in 2007 and Panama in 2011. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), signed on October 5, 2015, represented an extension of NAFTA to a much larger extent. No real progress has been made in setting acceptable subsidies or removing the applicability of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
Canada and the United States agreed to work more on these issues, but this was not the case under the free trade agreement. However, the Uruguay round of global GATT negotiations has developed stricter dumping rules and established authorized and unauthorized subsidies. In order to facilitate the marketing of food and agricultural products, Mexico and the United States agreed that the classification of standards and services for all agricultural products would not be discriminatory and would engage in a dialogue to address issues related to classification and quality of trade. In March 2014, a larger free trade agreement was reached with South Korea – Canada`s first such agreement with an Asia-Pacific nation. Not only is South Korea and its 50 million people an important market for Canadian exporters, but the agreement also aims to give Canada greater access to Asia through South Korean supply chains, particularly for agriculture, seafood and forest producers. The agreement was criticized by Ford of Canada Ltd., which said That South Korean automakers will have cheaper access to the Canadian market, while they will be unfairly protected in South Korea by the use of non-tariff barriers and currency manipulation. The implementation legislation was delayed in the Senate, which had a majority of the Liberal Party. In part in response to these delays, Mulroney declared an election in 1988. The trade agreement was by far the most important theme of the campaign, leading some to call it “free trade”. It was the first Canadian election to make major third-party election advertisements, where supporters and opponents used lobbyists to buy television advertising.