With a Stroke of the Presidential Pen : Vital and historic free-trade treaty with Mexico and Canada will clear yet another barrier

On international trade issues, President Bush has shown consistent leadership and purpose during his four years in office. He once again demonstrated that commitment in the announcement Thursday that he will sign the North American Free Trade Agreement on Dec. 17.

On that same day, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will sign the document in ceremonies in their own countries. The signatures will clear the way for NAFTA--which would create a free-trade zone stretching from the Yukon to the Yucatan--to be presented to Congress for approval.

Thursday’s announcement dispels the speculation that Bush might wait for Bill Clinton to take action on NAFTA after the inauguration. That notion created considerable uncertainty about the treaty’s fate.

The fact that Bush will act before leaving office takes political heat off Clinton--and allows Bush, appropriately, to put his name on the historic document.

Clinton gave his belated, qualified endorsement of NAFTA during the presidential campaign. He has since said he will not demand that the main agreement be renegotiated. Nevertheless, he has expressed reservations about environmental and labor issues and indicated he would seek additional agreements in those areas requiring further negotiations.

These issues are important, but they can be dealt with, as Salinas has suggested, in implementing legislation rather than by reopening NAFTA negotiations, which were completed in August.

Salinas meanwhile has acted boldly to offer unexpected initiatives to keep NAFTA moving. He says he will discuss any environmental and labor issues with the incoming Administration. The Mexican president has even proposed adding the controversial issue of immigration to the agenda.

The attempt to forge a three-nation trading region has not been welcomed by all sectors in the United States, Mexico and Canada. But the leaders of the three countries have wisely stuck to their guns.

Now the treaty issue moves to Congress, where members are likely to be preoccupied with domestic economic questions. However, NAFTA is hardly irrelevant to domestic growth. Indeed, it could be an engine for economic recovery and jobs. To see free trade and economic growth as separate is an impaired vision of today’s global economy. The United States’ domestic and international economic agendas are intertwined. Congress should bear that in mind.