Why did critics worry about environmental regulation in Mexico under NAFTA?

Critics of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) expressed significant concerns regarding environmental regulation in Mexico, primarily fearing that the country lacked the necessary experience to effectively implement and enforce such standards.1

Environmentalists worried that the rapid industrialization spurred by the agreement would lead to disastrous ecological consequences. These concerns were compounded by the belief that the treaty prioritized increased free trade at the expense of environmental protections. Specifically, critics feared that the influx of manufacturing plants, such as maquiladoras, would contribute to severe environmental pollution and degradation of health standards in the region.123

To address these apprehensions, the participating nations adopted the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which established the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in 1994 to monitor and mitigate potential environmental impacts.1