The North American Auto Industry Since NAFTA

This book explores key issues affecting the post-NAFTA development and trajectory of North America’s most important economic sector, the automotive industry.

The auto sector is North America’s most iconic of industries. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into existence in 1994, the sector has undergone tremendous change: escalating concerns around climate change, advances in electric and automated vehicles, deindustrialisation/reindustrialisation, and the rise of low-cost locations as hubs for manufacturing.

The North American Auto Industry since NAFTA examines the issues that have preoccupied the development of policy associated with the manufacture of automobiles in North America. The collection addresses the punctuations that have afflicted the industry since NAFTA’s implementation as well as the slower, incremental evolutions that have also occurred. Several aspects of automobility and the industry are explored, including but not limited to the Canadian, American, and Mexican automotive sectors and their evolution and interaction under evolving trade regimes. The book analyses issues surrounding labour, technology, trade policy, regional development, the environment, and broader societal impacts of the automobile. It also draws on the expertise of a wide cross-section of industry experts and scholars to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the automotive industry and its central role in North America’s economic, business, and political landscape.

Author Biography

Greig Mordue is an associate professor and the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Chair in Advanced Manufacturing Policy in the W Booth School of Engineering Practice in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. He lives in Drumbo.

Dimitry Anastakis is the L.R. Wilson/R.J. Currie Chair in Canadian Business History in the Department of History and at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto.