For some NAFTA hasn't been nifty.

• Position: Job losses attributed to North American Free Trade Agreement

Five years into the North American Free Trade Agreement, some Tar Heels are starting to wonder if it was such a great idea after all. North Carolina leads the nation in certified job losses, almost 17,500, linked to trade with Canada and Mexico, mainly the latter. "Ross Perot may have been right, who knows?" quips Jim Cowan, president of the North Carolina Textile Manufacturers Association and CEO of Stonecutter Mills Corp. in Spindale.

Of course, those layoffs could have happened without NAFTA. But for the workers to qualify for special federal aid, the U.S. Department of Labor had to find "an important effect." In this state in the last five fiscal years, 116 plants qualified - just more than half of them apparel. Textiles and electronics together account for 25%.

Largely because of NAFTA, Greensboro-based Burlington Industries Inc. plans to open three fabric plants and four apparel plants in Mexico this year. It's closing seven U.S. fabric plants, including five in North Carolina, though a spokesman blames that on a flood of cheap Asian imports.

Initially, Tar Heel manufacturers supported the loosening of trade barriers. Some apparel jobs...