When it is negotiated and if it is approved by Congress, the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada may prove to be the most important foreign economic policy achievement of President Bush's first term in office. This is especially true if there is a failure in the Uruguay Round negotiations to repair the world trading system under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The North American agreement, known as NAFTA, will create a free-trade zone nearly equal in population to the European Community and nearly double that of Japan's emerging ``yen bloc'' in East Asia--and larger than either in economic terms. Administration officials hope that NAFTA will form the basis of a free-trade community of market democracies encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere, and will help promote capitalism, democracy, and free trade globally. That would make it a veritable pillar of Bush's New World Order.
Ironically, though, Bush was not the driving force behind NAFTA. It was, instead, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico, who in February 1990 was scheduled to be the star of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a glittering annual gathering of international bankers, businessmen, and politicians who spend part of their time at economic policy seminars and the rest socializing and skiing.
The previous year, thanks partly to a speech by Senator Bill Bradley, Davos had been abuzz with conversation about Salinas' courageous economic reforms--his sell-off of nationalized industries, his opening to foreign investment, his reduction of government spending, and his crackdowns against corrupt labor union officials, businessmen, and drug dealers. In 1990, the Davos program called for Mexico to be the centerpiece of discussion. Salinas delivered a major address. Mexican food was served at banquets and Mexican music was played at receptions.
