105 School Seniors Join Free-Trade Pact Debate

Seventeen-year-old Luis Arostigue visited Mexico a few times and he has retained some stark images of the country. Etched deep are memories of raw sewage and dire poverty.

A free-trade pact among the United States, Canada and Mexico could provide jobs for Mexicans and abate the misery of many poor workers, said the senior from Century High School in Santa Ana.

Arostigue joined 104 other seniors from 21 Orange County high schools this week to learn more about the North American Free Trade Agreement and to debate whether their generation should support it. At the end of the day, they cast their ballots and the results--55 for and 50 against the pact--reflected the dilemma of many Americans and Canadians, who fear linking their economies too closely with a developing country such as Mexico, America’s third-largest trading partner with about 82 million consumers.

This fifth annual conference, sponsored by the Industrial League of Orange County, also brought together local executives and U.S. government officials to explore the trade pact and its effect on Orange County’s economy.

“The whole object of the conference is to help students bridge the gap between textbook economics and real life problems they and their parents face today,” said Beverly R. McClure, the league’s membership relations director.

Students who voted against such a trade alliance said they fear that Mexico’s low wages could prompt more U.S. companies to move their manufacturing facilities south of the border, resulting in fewer American jobs. Others, such as Arostigue, argued that trade opportunities can create jobs in both countries. More important, he said, many U.S. and Japanese companies have already shifted their factories to Mexico without this agreement.

“Better jobs and wages would provide for a better living standard” and stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico, Arostigue said.

Others, such as Joseph A. Russell, remain worried. The engineering hopeful from St. Michael’s Prep School in El Toro wants more built-in safeguards.

“I think there should be a provision for the recall of the agreement if it doesn’t work,” said Russell, who plans to attend Cal Poly Pomona in the fall. “I’m for it only if they consider putting in this provision.”

While the vote was close, many of those who approved it conceded that they needed more information on several worrisome issues, including how the Mexican government hopes to solve that nation’s pollution problem.

Ian P. Hardy, 18, from Woodbridge High School in Irvine, said that he is “veering toward” the approval of the agreement but personal concerns over the environmental issues and a possible decline in the living standard of U.S. workers kept him from approving the pact.

The speakers who advocated passage of the pact included Maryavis Bokal of the U.S. Department of Commerce and attorneys George W. Abbes of Anaheim and James W. Lent of Newport Beach. Those who spoke against the agreement included Craig Merrilees, director of San Francisco-based Fair Trade Campaign--who argued that the pact will displace many Mexican agricultural workers--and Philip Reh, the West Coast representative of Butler Steel of Kansas City, Mo. Barbara D. Renaud, president and chief executive of Airtronics Inc. in Irvine, presided over the debate.

According to the organizer, some students said that the conference has mitigated their negative view of U.S. companies and that they have a better grasp of how those companies operate in foreign markets.

“They say they’ve become more open-minded about how difficult it is to be in business in today’s global economy and what their role will be one day in this global community,” said McClure of the Industrial League.