NAFTA Expected to Increase County Jobs

A Mexican official and a Ventura County supervisor predicted in Oxnard on Friday that the North American Free Trade Agreement, approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives, will create new jobs in Ventura County.

Officials with 3M, Sunkist Growers and Procter & Gamble--three of the county’s largest exporters--agree, saying the elimination of trading barriers with Mexico will lead to substantial increases in exports. The Senate is expected to approve the treaty within days.

Martin Torres, undersecretary of foreign affairs for Mexico’s ruling PRI party, described the promise that increased trade holds for his country and criticized the distorted image of Mexico he said NAFTA’s opponents created.

“It’s important for our two peoples to start knowing each other better,” Torres said during a joint appearance in Oxnard Friday with Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn, a NAFTA supporter. The Job Training Policy Council of Ventura County arranged for the event.

Torres and Flynn predicted that the trade agreement, which will lower tariffs on most goods traded between Canada, Mexico and the U.S., will lead to job growth in all three countries.

“It’s a mistake to regard foreign trade as a zero-sum game, where if somebody wins, somebody else loses,” Torres said. “Economics doesn’t happen like that. With NAFTA, all three parties are going to win--it will be a win, win, win situation.”

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Since 1986, when Mexico rolled back its tariffs from 100% to 20%, U.S. exports to Mexico have leaped from $12.6 billion to $45 billion, creating 500,000 jobs in the process, Torres said.

In Ventura County, citrus growers, large manufacturers and small computer and electronic companies should benefit from the reduction of Mexican tariffs and simplification of trading rules, Flynn said.

And Flynn said he sees little chance that Ventura County will lose jobs to Mexico.

“I haven’t had any large or small business tell me they’re going to Mexico if NAFTA passes,” Flynn said. “I don’t think they will.”

Representatives of some of the county’s largest businesses agreed with Flynn’s assessment Friday, saying NAFTA promises to greatly expand consumer demand for American exports in Mexico.

“We believe the opportunity of exports to Mexico will increase significantly with the passage of NAFTA,” said Kevin Rubey, plant manager of the 3M facility in Camarillo that employs 675 county residents.

Rubey noted that half of all 3M sales are made to foreign customers and he estimated that company revenues from exports topped $1.5 billion in 1992.

“3M’s exports to Mexico have increased nine-fold since 1986, but we believe we’ve only just begun to tap the Mexican market,” Rubey said.

Sunkist Growers Inc., a marketing cooperative of 6,500 small farmers in California and Arizona, supported NAFTA in the belief that the trade pact will lead to greater exports of citrus fruit.

“Our belief is that well over 30% of the Mexican population have the economic wherewithal to purchase the higher-quality and relatively higher-priced citrus we produce here in California,” said Sunkist spokesman Bill Quarles.

“From a citrus point of view, NAFTA is good news.”

At Procter & Gamble’s manufacturing plant in Oxnard, company spokesman Stacey Roscoe said the parent company has researched the probable effect of NAFTA and believes the pact will be good for its business.

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“By our data, the average individual in Mexico spends more than the average European on American goods,” Roscoe said. “That’s very good considering the distinction in salary between Mexico and Europe.”

Procter & Gamble has doubled its exports to Mexico since that country lowered its trade barriers in 1986, Roscoe added.

Torres, who visited public officials and community groups in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, said Mexico has been misrepresented by NAFTA’s critics during the debate.

“We accept that we are a poor country with economic problems, but we are working to solve our problems and already have a very dynamic middle class,” Torres said.

Torres said fears by American labor of low wages in Mexico will ease as economic growth leads to higher wages there. He compared the concern to that of Japanese workers when Japan entered a trade agreement with Korea, whose workers earned significantly lower wages.

“Those gaps have been closed, not by Japanese workers’ wages going down, but by Korean workers earning more,” Torres said.