Globalization arrived full force in North America in the form of a free trade agreement. While the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico had been integrating for decades, the process largely remained beneath the radar, inspiring little reaction from political pundits, the media, and the general public. Mexico's 1986 entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) produced little public criticism, and resistance to the negotiation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) in the mid-1980s largely remained within Canadian borders. Talk that the George H.W. Bush Administration was considering an idea proffered by President Reagan in the 1980s to create a free trade zone extending across the Americas raised the hackles of free trade opponents. But no one could have predicted the groundswell of grassroots opposition that occurred across the continent upon the North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) formal announcement in September 1990.

The public reaction to NAFTA was unprecedented. Politicians, presidential hopefuls, media personalities, and organizations representing interests as diverse as consumers and peasants entered the fray. The overwhelming response led many observers to proclaim that NAFTA was responsible for repoliticizing trade politics and for ushering in an era of antiglobalization activism that would be felt from Seattle to Montreal, from Genoa to Mumbai. NAFTA's most vocal critics warned of its potential effects on U.S. jobs and industries. Ross Perot memorably proclaimed that a “giant sucking sound” would be heard as jobs left the country.