Puerto Rico has had a long history as a “laboratory” for U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Indeed, the foundation of the contemporary Puerto Rican state—the commonwealth agreement between Puerto Rico and the United States—was conceptualized, in part, as a vehicle to showcase U.S. development strategies to the Third World during the Cold War. Throughout the mid-twentieth century, Puerto Rico was mobilized as an example of the progress that could be achieved through economic and political alignment with the United States.
However, the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992 sounded a death knell for Puerto Rico’s special relationship with the United States and threw into question its preferred status as a commonwealth territory. In many ways, this was a tale of a death foretold. As the United States promoted Puerto Rico’s development model globally, especially throughout Latin America and Asia, its gradual widespread implementation meant the emergence of new markets and labor pools for U.S. capital beyond the archipelago. As Puerto Rico’s economy became more integrated into the U.S. economy—eventually resulting in the extension of federal legal standards and practices, including the federal minimum wage—U.S. capital left the archipelago in search of cheaper labor, better corporate incentives, and less regulation. Continue Reading>>
