NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9508

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Subject: Mexico/Canada/USA Sign "Free Trade" Pact
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Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


From el diario/La Prensa 12/18/92

Translated and edited by Toby Mailman. "el Diario/La Prensa"
is a Spanish language newspaper published in New York City.


Mexico, Canada and US Sign "Free Trade" Agreement

On Dec. 17, US President George Bush signed the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the Organization of American
States (OAS) in Washington, DC. He described it as "a giant step
toward the realization of the Bolivarian dream of a united
continent." Mexico's President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the
Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, signed the agreement
simultaneously in their respective capitols. Joao Baena Soares,
the Secretary General of the OAS, said that NAFTA "opens important
perspectives to the freedom of trade in the entire hemisphere and
has the potential to become a fundamental link in a broad
inter-American cooperation among equals." The NAFTA agreement must
still be ratified by the three countries' congresses. Once
ratified it will end 15 years of trade barriers between Canada,
the US and Mexico, creating the largest free trade zone in the
world, containing over 360 million [potential] consumers and a
combined gross national product of US$6 billion.

The agreement leaves open the possibility of other countries
joining. The idea is to create a free trade zone extending from
Alaska to Argentina. Bush promised Chilean President Patricio
Alwyn that Chile would be the first country to be offered the
option to sign on to the treaty. US President-elect Bill Clinton
has backed the NAFTA with certain reservations, but promised to
respect the compromise to Alwyn. He said at a press conference on
Dec. 17 in Little Rock, Arkansas, that although he backed the
agreement, he felt that parallel agreements needed to be
negotiated to protect the environment and labor rights and to
avoid sudden increases in imports which could endanger domestic
businesses and causing massive losses of employment.

A dozen activists from the international environmental watchdog
organization Greenpeace protested in front of the OAS building
where Bush was signing the agreement, carrying a large placard
describing the free trade agreement as a Christmas present from
Bush to large corporations. Greenpeace spokespeople said that
NAFTA puts the benefits to the corporations before protection of
the environment and workers' health. At the same time, a coalition
of ecology, labor and consumer organizations announced a campaign
to pressure Clinton to re-negotiate the treaty, stating that in
its current form it will cause severe damage to many US economic
sectors and to the environment of the border zone. (edlp 12/18/92
from AFP)


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