Trade Vote Will Reshape Hemisphere

It is not only the three North American countries that have a stake in free trade. What Congress decides will importantly affect the economic future of the entire Western Hemisphere. A Mexico-U.S. (and Canada) trade pact is the first milepost on the road to hemispheric free trade. Its rejection would likely halt any progress for years to come--to the detriment of the United States as well as Latin America.

Most countries of Latin America are struggling to emerge from a protracted economic crisis, and their only realistic path to recovery is through expanded exports, renewed foreign investment and the return of flight capital. Stable and assured access to the U.S. market, as well as more open regional trading relations, are crucial to the building of dynamic export sectors throughout Latin America and to attracting new flows of investment--particularly if Japanese and European markets remain highly protected. Latin America, after all, ships about 50% of its exports to the United States.

The United States today sends only about 13% of its exports to Latin America, but this amounts to annual sales of more than $50 billion a year, exceeding those to Japan. Economic recovery in Latin America, coupled with reduced trade restrictions, would lead quickly to at least $20 billion a year in additional purchases from U.S. exporters. No other part of the world offers greater potential for growth in U.S. trade.