Since the implementation of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 the destruction of local economies and livelihoods drove many Mexicans into migration, to look for jobs and get money to send back home to their impoverished families.Around the world, the forced implementation of trade liberalization, privatisation, and deregulation increased injustice and drove millions of peoples into poverty since the beginning of the neoliberal era.
Today, the 21st century world trade order is in the making, through agreements like TTIP, TPP, and others. Those trade agreements aim to align the structure of economies, politics and societies worldwide to the demands of powerful states and transnational companies. This deep interference in the sovereignty of local, regional or national policy may create even greater injustice and thus more massive migration flows.
Free trade creates injustice. Thus, when we talk about the root causes of migration, we have to talk about trade policies.