Interview with University of North Texas Professor Dr. Pierina E. Mercado Beckman, Mexican-born immigrant to Denton, Texas, for the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Beckman's personal experiences about childhood in Mexico City, relocating to the U.S., her decision to attend Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, her culture shock and homesickness, marriage to Curt Beckman, the decision to earn a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature from the University of Iowa, being hired at UNT, and her efforts to remain in touch with family members in Mexico.

U.S. trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have been approved by majority vote of each house rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senate - that is, they have been treated as congressional-executive agreements rather than as treaties. The congressional-executive agreement has been the vehicle for implementing Congress's long-standing policy of seeking trade benefits for the United States through reciprocal trade negotiations. This report discusses this topic in brief.