“Mr. Derbyshire—I love your columns, and pretty much agree with most of

your latest one. However, I can point out something good to come from NAFTA.

It may not have done much for Mexico, or the U.S. at large, but it has been

a Godsend for Texas. When I was a child in the 1970’s the Texas economy was

entirely dependent on oil. Our fortunes rose and fell with OPEC. You would

not believe the change in Texas in just the last decade. My sister owns a

ranch and meat company. Half of her live cattle sales go to Mexico. My

father works in a plant that packages wheat flour for export. Their biggest

customers are in Mexico. Even my job relies on trade. Texas is booming for a

lot of reasons including business friendly policies and low taxes. But NAFTA

is very important to us as well.”