In 2007 IATP organized the conference "Lessons from NAFTA: Building a New Fair Trade Agenda" which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With 45 groups signed on as co-sponsors, the conference was attended by over 250 people, including representatives from the media; the Minnesota state government; the Mexican and Canadian embassies; representatives from the Canadian, Mexican and U.S. parliament; and a wide variety civil society groups.

Participants and keynote speaker John Nichols of the Nation identified trade as a critical issue to be debated by candidates in the lead up to the U.S. elections in 2008, and the need to address what was structurally flawed in trade and investment agreements as a first step toward achieving an alternative agenda in support of people and the environment, using agriculture as a lens.

“Lessons from NAFTA: Building a New Fair Trade Agenda” is the preliminary conference report providing a summary of the important discussions and the two short blogs detail the events that took place over the two day conference.