The Asia Pacific Economic corporation or apec summit just ended today in beijing. And president obama joined russia and china in pledging to consider a chinese chinesepacked trade pact involving all three countries. The proposal appears to be chinas answer to another free trade the Transpacific Partnership. I told you about it today but im going to tell you about it again because youre going to be hearing about this a lot. The tpp, Transpacific Partnership is about countries that border on the pacific. Its a 12country free trade zone being negotiated right now. China is specifically being left out of these talks by design straining bilateral relations with the United States. Instead, china is looking west toward russia in search of trade blocks. It has proposed new silk roads as they call them to try to boost trade with the rest of the world. Russia, in turn, is embracing china with Gas Pipelines and trade deals. But thats fuelling tensions with the u. S. And the west. It looks like the world powers are fracturing back into a bipolar world. This time though, theyre engaging in war fair and competing trade pacts are the battle fields. Progress is being made. The u. S. And china are expected to cut tariffs but the competition for free trade agreements is still fierce and are likely the wave of the future. Back in 1993, the u. S. , canada, and mexico signed onto nafta, the north American Free trade agreement. The debate is still unresolved as to whether it was been good or bad for america. But in light of all the free trade proposals around the world right now, and the real impact they could have on your lives, its time to revisit naftas benefits and pitfalls. Mary snow has this report. Reporter the year was 1993. The leaders of the u. S. , mexico, and canada formed the Worlds Largest trading block by signing the north American Free trade agreement. Nafta will tear down trade barriers. Reporter the goal was to get rid of most tariffs on goods traded between the three countries. More than 20 years later, nafta now links 450 million people. Economic output of all countries combined Second Degree 17 trillion. Trade flow has gone to more than 1. 1 trillion in 2012. But the Economic Impact is still debated. Unions unions have strongly opposed nafta. They argue wages is another casualty. The chamber of commerce sees it differently claiming 5 million american jobs are created due to nafta. It remains a dividing issue more than 20 years after being signed is the only thing clear about nafta. Matthew, good to see you. If china gets this free trade zone that involves russia and the United States, what a megafree trade zone that would be. What does that end up looking like . Well, i think china should get credit for whats accomplished during it. But its important to remember that the free trade area of the asiapacific is a longestablished idea. The reason for apec was to establish Something Like this is what the president of singapore said this afternoon. It takes a serious step forward in really formalizing the pursuit of this goal rather than just the general goal of its creation. Lets go back to this conversation about nafta. It is reallying in that all these years later since 1993, people are dug in. Some say it created 5 million jobs in america and i could talk to others, in fact, often with the labor unions, who say it destroyed american jobs, certainly manufacturing jobs. Things like that. How are americans supposed to regard these negotiations and potentially new trade pacts . I think youll see a similar debate over the Economic Impact. Most analysis is that there would be a net positive impact on the u. S. Economy, Something Like 60 billion if the tpp were agreed by 2020 and 167 billion a year was concluded. I think what that will analysis misses is the strategic impact of this kind of cooperation. The president announced in 2010 that the u. S. Was going to spend greater attention and time and effort on its relationships in asia and really asian leaders are looking to the tpp to prove that point. And so the success or failure of the tpp and agreeing to it by the end of this administration i think will be inter interpret you would make the assumption that, thats generally good for everybody. Always winners and losers but generally good. The way our economies grow today were so bifurcated that there are going to be a lot of people who are going to say this is not good for working class, regular americans. Is that going to be a new head wind to trade pacts that wasnt there in 1993 . I would think that it would be similar. You saw in 1994 a report discusseded that there were similar debates. And i think the debate on this agreement if its made will line up similarly if the. I think youre probably right about that. Matthew, good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us. Matthew stump joining us from washington. Coming up, why americas next housing crisis could be right around the corner. Ound the corner. Russian president Vladimir Putin has been taking full advantage of the summit in beijing tonight to reinforce moscows by pivot with china. Oil has long bolstered putins agenda at home and abroad. But the recent slump in oil prices could undermine the key to putins power. Reporter oil, russias most valuable export and the driver of Economic Growth that fuels Vladimir Putins popularity in his first eight years. But with oil trading 20 shy of the 100 average kremlin needs could be putins achilles heel. If the price of oil stays like this, that could be disasterous for russias economy. Reporter western sanctions are feeding a perfect storm bearing down on russias economy. The ruble has lost more than a third of its value against the dollar this year. There is a Silver Lining because oil trades in u. S. Dollars, russia gets more rubles for the oil it sells. But the inflation russia is also counting on to fund its budget next year. Inflation prompted Interest Rates to hike to 9. 5 last month in russia. And it boosted its estimate for capital fleeing the country this year to 128 billion. More than double 2013. Against this backdrop of stagnant growth and high inflation, russia is tapping its more than 400 billion in gold reserve. That could eat up all russias reserve meaning russia needs to borrow more from china or other friends and that they have to cut much more. Reporter but with putins Approval Rating running higher than 80 , the russian president has plenty of room to fall before help finds himself over a barrel. Falling oil prices combined with western sanctions over ukraine have been hammering russias economy and now the situation in ukraine is getting worse as the cease fire signed tod months ago falls apart. Shelling and artillery fire signal the worst fighting in the region since that september truce and it appears both sides are preparing for more violence. We have a member of the khan Khan Parliament who is of ukranian decent and is also the author of sale of the century. She also spoke with the president of ukraine and joins us now from toronto. Whats happening there . This is a very nuanced and complicated issue at the best of times. Why does it look like were losing ground and things are worsening . Its important to remember that this cease fire has been very, very fragile from the start. People were dying from day one and have been being killed this entire time. What has really concerned ukranians and their western allies is that there are very credible reports of a major and quite open movement of some heavy weaponry in from russia into the parts of ukraine that are controlled by these socalled separatists. So people are really afraid that there is a military buildup and that, that could be the precursor to a really serious escalation of the fighting. Ukraines ambassador to the u. N. Said tuesday he thinks russia is getting ready for a fullscale move in. You called them socalled separatists. Whats happening on that side . Who is pulling the strings in Eastern Ukraine . We believe its been pretty clear from the start, and i think that this movement of weaponry in from russia into these areas in Eastern Ukraine is further confirmation that this is very much something a state let, propped up by russia. And thats an important point to make. I think its important to point out that ukraine has been independent since 1991, and although the ukrainen economy has done remarkably badly in that period, ukraine has been a democracy since then with a really free press. In all of that period, there was no indigenous separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine or crimea. So this is a group being armeded from russia. Its not a ukranian civil war. This is a conflict between ukraine and russia. Its getting toward winter. Theres still an unsable agreement between russia and ukraine and natural gas and those sanctions are starting to hurt everybody. Clearly thats an inopportune for that. How do you see that playing out . Actually, i think that Angela Merkel has been a surprisingly Strong Player in all of this. There was a lot of concern about how strongly germany would be prepared to respond to an aggressive russia. Among the european countries, germany has one of the strongest economic relationships with russia and merkel herself has a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin based on her own growing up in east germany and the time he was a kgb officer in east germany. But shes been willing to go against german Public Opinion and say to the german people that germany is going to have to take an economic hit in order to guarantee european security. I think that shes been really strong and an important player here. The issue that i think we need to look ahead to is whether were going to see russia trying to play off cooperation in the middle east, particularly cooperation with iran, against the west sort of turning a blind eye to what russia is doing in ukraine if the and weve seen in the past, Vladimir Putin has many faults. I think that your Previous Report was excellent in pointing out his shortcomings as an economic manager of russia. But hes proven to be a pretty good shortterm chess player. An issue that i think all of us need to watch is whether were going to try to see some behind the scenes tradeoffs there. Always good to talk to you and good to talk to you under different circumstances. The last time we were talking about that shooting on Parliament Hill while you were holed up there. So its nice to see you safe and happy. Two weeks ahead of the november 24th deadline for tehran to sign an agreement on its Nuclear Program with six world powers. It reflects moscows intention to deepen its cooperation with tehran ahead of possible softening of sanctions against that country coming up, an Indian Muslim who moved from britain to america as a teenager. How he got here is worthy of a book. So he wrote one and is here to tell me all about it. E all about it. One year ago america tonight brought you the story that shocked the nation sex crimes on campus i remember waking up and he was trying to have sex me. Now we return has anything changed . His continued presence on the campus put the entire community at risk for the better. I was arrested for another false charge that she had made up. America tonights special report sex crimes on campus one year later on Al Jazeera America while states across the country are legalizing marijuana, it may seem strange to hear a town is considering banning tobacco. But thats whats happening in the massachusetts town of westminster. The towns board of health has proposed a regulation making them the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all at thtobacco products wi town lines. Local shops and smokers oppose a total ban. One merchant joins us by phone. Thank you for being with us. You are concerned. I guess you signed this petition and you are concerned about this amendment passing. Tell me about this. Well, the problem is that this thing is not going to theres not going to be one person that quits from this ban. Its just going to send business out of town to five minutes down the road where they can purchase tobacco item there is. How far do they have to go to get smokes five minutes in any direction. I think theres, like, 110 other tobacco retailers in surrounding towns. What do you sell in your business . Were the only Grocery Store in town. We have all the other departments. Meat department, deli, bakery, et cetera. Tobacco is a big part of our business and this is going to hurt us big time if it goes through. Is tobacco a bigger part of your business than it was five years ago, ten years ago . Is it declining . It has been declining and i think maybe it has something to do with the tax rate here. I think for every pack we sell the state gets 3. 50 i want to say. What do you think about the goal that the Health Agency is talking about, stopping Tobacco Sales to youth . Whats interesting about that is there has not been one infraction by any tobacco retailer in town for the past ten years. We have a perfect record. Theres never been a sting operation where businesses have sold to minors so its not a problem here. How do you ensure youre not selling to minors . We card everyone that looks under 29. Whats going on with this suggestion, this amendment . Is it Going Forward . How many people have you talked to about this . Whats the sense that you have about those around you . I think its not just the smoker, nonsmoker decision. People want people have a problem with others telling them what legal product they can purchase. Weve heard from people who hate smoking and theyre still in support of this ban where people should be able to decide what they want to consume legally, especially when its a legal product. And give me a sense of the you told me about the Economic Impact on you because you say five to six percent of what you sell is tobacco but how about westminster . Does it change the makeup of the place . We actually dug into this a little bit and discovered this this was going to devalue most businesses in the town. There will be a lot of people losing their jobs immediately. Ill be cutting hours at the store and kind of, you know, taking a step back to find out how were going to survive and continue to donate our time and services to the town. You know, were very active with sponsoring Little League teams and oakmont Football Team and without this income, its going to be tough. All right. Brian, thank you very much. They fought for america overseas only to face a very different kind of fight back home. Ill tell what you this country can do to put unemployed veterans back to work next. Plus, how the housing crisis could come back to haunt america again. Again. Today we thank veterans for their service to this country, for putting their lives on the line. And, yet, financial struggles continue to playing our newest veterans, those who fought in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, with unemployment and underemployment an ongoing and serious problem for them. New Research Shows many jobs may not last very long or build up to a long term career and many are finding the civilian workforce harder than overseas. Reporter returning home from war can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned of veterans. But its been finding a job thats been the toughest fight of all for many of americas youngest veterans. The biggest problem that were really seeing is a communications gap. The skills that veterans and military spouses learn while serving in the military community are amazing. Were great workers. Work well in teams. Communicate well together. Were able to adapt to shifting environments and tight deadlines, but they dont always translate differently to private sector employers. Reporter 77 of veterans had experienced a period of unemployment since leaving the military. 27 had been out of a job for over a year. And to address the crisis, a wave of private sector efforts have stepped up. The u. S. Chamber of commerce in 2011 launched its hiring our heros campaign. Leading to 25,000 veterans with new jobs. And a coalition of 180 Major Companies from j. P. Morgan chase to phiser the good news is that Unemployment Rates for post 9 11 vets have gone down over the years with a slight up tick last month to 7. 2 . But rates are still consistently above National Averages and experts say it doesnt give the whole picture. The mission is certainly not accomplished. 80 , thats 80 , of veterans stayed in their initial job for less than two years. So thats completely unacceptable. And we really need to understand the reasons why veterans take jobs and then leave them so quickly. Reporter 22 of veterans had more than six different jobs since transitioning to civilian life and some might have to do with the quality of jobs. Veterans are underemployed at a rate of 14 higher than the rest of the u. S. Workforce. Other experts say education might be part of the problem. 30 of veterans have completed an Associates Degree or higher compared with 44 of their civilian peers. But whatever the solution, veterans o veterans advocates worry the issue of veteran unemployment is only going get more press. Theres a huge group of folks about to come through and we want to make sure were leveraging