North American Trade Talks Gather Steam : Bush and Mexico’s Salinas wisely speed treaty negotiations

The summit meeting held in San Diego last week by President Bush and Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari was overshadowed by the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Even baseball’s All-Star Game, played the same day as the summit and briefly attended by the two leaders, got more attention. Still, their joint announcement that negotiations to draft a North American Free Trade Agreement will be accelerated so that the treaty can be signed as soon as possible, maybe even before November’s election in this country, is profoundly important for long-term relations between two geographically close but historically distant neighbors.

Bush said that the free trade negotiations, which also include Canada, are “in the ninth inning.” The President added that he, Salinas and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had instructed their chief trade negotiators to meet again starting next Saturday “to bring this final stage of negotiations to an early and successful conclusion.”

The complexities of international diplomacy and trade being what they are, even such an upbeat assessment from a sitting President does not guarantee that a free trade agreement is a done deal. Indeed, recent reports have indicated that the trade talks, which had been put on a diplomatic fast track when they began 13 months ago, bogged down when the three nations began discussing sensitive topics like financial services and energy. So Bush’s announcement may have been made largely to calm uneasiness in Mexico.

Still, the timetable that Bush set in his remarks is important. If all three nations do indeed sign off on a free trade pact--or even a draft version--before the November election, that could create the momentum needed to carry the treaty through to completion even if Bush is not reelected. And that is a possibility that must seriously be considered as Democrat Bill Clinton surges upward in public opinion polls.

Both Clinton and his running mate, Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee, have been admirably open-minded about the North American Free Trade Agreement, especially when one considers the visceral--almost irrational--opposition to the proposal within key sectors of the Democratic Party, especially organized labor. If the Democratic team is elected in November, one hopes it will have the courage and farsightedness to maintain the movement toward North American economic integration.

As the world economy of the 21st Century evolves, the nations in the best position to compete will be the ones most willing to trade internationally, and that requires close cooperation with their neighbors. Both Japan and Germany are moving in that direction in their respective spheres of influence, and the United States is fortunate to have two large, friendly and cooperative neighbors willing to do the same in North America. Whatever else history says of the presidency of George Bush, his decision to pursue the opportunity offered by North American free trade will be regarded as a noteworthy achievement.

That’s why it should be reassuring--not just in Mexico but on this side of the border--that the momentum toward free trade has not been lost this election year.