Immigration Issues in Trade Agreements

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Population and demographics; Trade

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Abstract:

The connections between trade and migration are as longstanding as the historic movements of goods and people. The desire for commerce may often be the principal motivation, but the need to send people to facilitate the transactions soon follows. Recognition of this phenomenon is incorporated into the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which includes provisions for aliens who are entering the United States solely as "treaty traders" and "treaty investors." Although the United States has not created a common market for the movement of labor with our trading partners, there are immigration provisions in existing free trade agreements (FTAs) that spell out reciprocal terms regulating the "temporary entry of business persons."

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, such as the United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), there may be a debate over the effects that FTAs might have on future migration.

There are a variety of approaches to study the impact of trade agreements on migration, and this report draws on several different perspectives. The volume of trade that the United States has with its top trading partners correlates with the number of times foreign nationals from these countries enter the United States, regardless of whether there is an FTA. Research on the aftermath of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) found upward trends in the temporary migration of business and professional workers between the United States and Canada during the years that followed the implementation of the Canada-United States FTA (later NAFTA). Another set of analyses revealed that the number of Mexican-born residents of the United States who report that they came in to the country during the years after NAFTA came into force is substantial and resembles the "migration hump" that economists predicted. Many factors other than NAFTA, however, have been instrumental in shaping this trend in Mexican migration.

This report provides background and analysis on the complex nexus of immigration and trade. It does not track legislation and will not be regularly updated.