NAFTA WATCH : Debating Points

Is the White House taking a needless gamble sending Vice President Al Gore to debate Ross Perot about the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement? Why pick a fight with a pit bull?

Administration officials say they are confident that Gore, whose stiff public persona is the butt of even his own jokes, can handle Perot, the master of the folksy but often misleading sound bite. Given the importance of NAFTA to California’s economy and to improved U.S.-Mexican relations, we hope they are right. One way for Gore to make sure they are is to avoid trying to outdo Perot’s emotional stance--which relies on unfounded fears about a changing world economy rather than on facts--with outlandish claims of his own.

The fact is that Mexico’s small economy is no threat to this country. Its gross domestic product of $324 billion in 1992, for example, was dwarfed by a U.S. GDP of $6 trillion. What would be a threat is an unstable Mexico whose fast-growing population is so frustrated by poverty that it rises up in rebellion or immigrates illegally to this country in enormous numbers. NAFTA can avert that by generating the trade and investment that would make Mexico a more prosperous neighbor.

That is a point the many Californians in Congress who remain undecided about NAFTA should also remember. No state will benefit more, in so many ways, from the historic trade accord. If Gore’s debate with Perot helps gives California’s congressional delegation some backbone on NAFTA, it will be a worthwhile exercise.