Parting Shots on NAFTA : Move Ahead or Get Out of the Way : The future of U.S. trade lies south; Mexico is only the first door to open in the Americas’ potential market of 46 countries.

The North American Free Trade Agreement demands that U.S. companies make a choice: Either lead the country into the future through global vision or get out of the way of those companies that will. Like it or not, with or without NAFTA, economic integration in North American will continue apace. The developing new economic world order presents opportunities too great for the United States to remain a spectator.

At stake is much more than the immediate creation of a trading bloc stretching from Alaska to the Yucatan, comprising 362 million people and $6 trillion in gross domestic product. Removing the invisible walls of tariffs, import quotas and customs fees separating the United States, Canada and Mexico brings U.S. companies closer to the markets of 46 countries representing one-sixth of the world’s population.

NAFTA accelerates a two-decade trend: the north-south flow of commerce in search of operating efficiencies and untapped markets. We must throw out old assumptions about who the United States’ customers are, what persuades them to buy and how goods and services reach the marketplace.

Mexico’s economy is primed to explode. Look at its rapidly growing government institutions, schools and businesses in need of technology, including satellite links, computer networks, construction equipment. Consider the 50 million young wage earners eager for U.S. products such as soft drinks, blue jeans and sporting gear.

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, Mexican imports rose 50% between 1989 and 1991; in the first half of 1992 alone, they jumped another 29%. Federal Express’ business in Mexico has doubled every year since 1990--a reflection of a dramatic upswing in transborder activity as U.S. companies position themselves for the realities after NAFTA. In 1994, as duties on everything from microchips to shoes begin to ebb, the stream of products from the United States will swell to a torrent.

Recognizing opportunities, fine corporations such as Caterpillar, Xerox, Allied Signal, Northern Telecom and the Bank of Nova Scotia have expanded their operations in Mexico. They’re rethinking strategy, structure, marketing approaches, logistics production and distribution in the context of borders that will become more porous with each passing year. The greatest U.S. business success stories will be about companies that prepared in advance to capitalize on such opportunities.

NAFTA represents the most innovative stride toward economic prosperity taken by any group of countries since the end of the Cold War. Lucrative, untapped markets are rare. Japan found one in the United States in the 1970s, and is now beating us to the punch in Asia. Mexico ranks as the third-largest export market for U.S. goods, exceeded only by Canada and Japan. Our foot is in the door, and the choice is ours: Lead or follow.