FREE TRADE DESERVES A FAST TRACK
Ross Perot's description of the giant sucking sound of jobs being to Mexico from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTAl was one of most memorable phrases of the 1992 Presidential election-but it turned out to be wrong. There was no sucking sound, and only a few American jobs were lost. Indeed, NAFTA succeeded in a key goal: promoting trade between Mexico and the U.S. And the renoval of barriers in both so that U trade with Mexico is far better balanced than it is with other trading partners. U-S. trade deficit with Mexico is 10% of total trade between the two (exports plus imports). For Japan the figure is 38% and for China it's NAFTA has also helped the us. economy in a more subtle way that hasn been as widely or without low-skilled jobs would h left the U.S. NAFTA helped direct many of those jobs to Mexico instead of, sa China. By keeping those jobs close home, production swapping of parts back and forth across the border in ways that ta advantage of each country's strengths. Plastic molding operations in El Paso for example, make parts that are shipped to Mexico for others to assemble l those assembly jobs had gone to China, it's likely that the molding jobs would hav gone with them-rather than remaining in the U.S. NAFTA continues to have its critics. Some of the maquiladoras-the assem bly plants on the Mexican side of the border-are deservedly denounced for po working conditions and a troubling environmental record. And on June 26, 2001 the House of Representatives passed a bill restricting Mexican trucking in the U.S., an indication that NAFTA remains politically unpopular among man icans. But for workers coming from impoverished Mexican villages, the maquiladoras represent an opportunity to earn a far better living A bill to give the President greater authority to negotiate trade agreements so-called fast-track authority-was recently reintroduced in Congress, after being defeated during the Clinton Administration. Congress should give the Preside that authority and encourage him to use it. Congress and the Administration need to continue America's longstanding commitment to free trade. Source: Free Trade Deserves a Fast Track" Business Week luly 9, 2001. p. 124. Copyright o 2001 McGraw-Hill. Reprinted by special permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies. What issue (controversial topic) is presented? What is the author's argument (bias or position on the issue)?