NAFTA WATCH : One More Time

Unless a parachutist finds a way to land inside Cable News Network’s TV studios tonight, no surprises are likely in the Great Debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement between Ross Perot and Vice President Al Gore.

Those political heavyweights have pretty much telegraphed their punches. Perot, the loudest critic of NAFTA if not the most constructive, undoubtedly will pull out all the stops to try to trash the proposed trade pact with Mexico and Canada. Gore, the well-read policy wonk, surely will marshal all the dreary but important economic and foreign-policy arguments for lifting North American trade barriers over the next decade.

That’s all NAFTA would do, by the way, despite the outlandish fears of its opponents and the sometimes overblown claims its supporters have made in response. It’s just a trade agreement.

After the rhetorical smoke clears, the biggest of the political heavyweights, President Clinton, must speak out for NAFTA in a quieter, more thoughtful setting than debate with Perot allows--preferably the Oval Office.

Like Gore, the President must try to reassure Americans that NAFTA is a modest but necessary step to prepare the U.S. economy for the 21st Century by coordinating trade with two key trading partners that also are our closest neighbors. On the national-security side, Clinton must emphasize how NAFTA would help Mexico prosper, so it will remain a stable, friendly nation and will send north not illegal immigrants but trucks to pick up the U.S. goods it has purchased.