FREE TRADE DESERVES A FAST TRACK
Ross perot's description of the giant sucking sound- of jobs being lost to Mexico from the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA was one of the 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 removal of barriers boosted trade in both directions, so that U.S. trade with Mexico is far better balanced than it is with other trading partners. The 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 72%
NAFTA has also helped the us. economy in a more subtle way that hasn't been as widely appreciated with or without NAFTA, low-skilled jobs would have left the US. NAFTA helped direct many of those jobs to Mexico instead of 3ny. China By keeping those jobs close to home, NAFTA encouraged production shar ing-the swapping of parts back and forth across the border in ways that take 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. If those assembly jobs had gone to China, it's likely that the molding jobs would have gone with them rather than remaining in the U.S.
NAFTA continues to have its critics. Some of the maquiladoras-the assembly plants on the Mexican side of the border-are deservedly denounced for poor working conditions and a troubling environmental record. And on lune 26, 2001, the House of Representatives passed a bill restricting Mexican trucking in the U.S., an indication that NAFTA remains politically unpopular among many Amer 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 President that authority and encourage him to use it. Congress and the Administration need to continue America's longstanding commitment to free trade