[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        NAFTA'S MID-TERM REVIEW

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives' hyperbolic 
debate on the merits of the Uruguay Round Trade Agreement on October 5, 
1994, resembles its debate the previous year on the merits of the North 
American Free-Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. While both proponents and 
opponents have exaggerated the effects of NAFTA, Nebraska Columnist 
Cheryl Stubbendieck's article published in the York News Times reveals 
that Nebraskans have studied the facts and determined that NAFTA has 
already lived up to its expectations by greatly stimulating U.S. 
exports of goods and services, and especially agricultural commodities 
and products, to Mexico and Canada. Hopefully, Members of Congress will 
also recognize NAFTA's impressive results when they return at the end 
of the year to vote on the Uruguay Round Trade Agreement.

                [From the York News Times, Oct. 6, 1994]

                 NAFTA at Six Months: A Positive Report

       It's been six months since the North American Free Trade 
     Agreements went into effect and the dire consequences NAFTA 
     opponents had predicted haven't come to pass. What has 
     occurred is just what proponents said: U.S. exports to Mexico 
     have increased.
       Overall, U.S. exports have risen by 17 percent during the 
     past six months, to $24.5 billion. Extended to a full year, 
     exports should reach a record $48.9 billion in 1994--an 
     increase of $7.3 billion from 1993.
       NAFTA proponents said the agreements would be especially 
     beneficial to agriculture and this has been borne out. Farm 
     exports have risen 11 percent in the first six months, from 
     $1.93 billion to $2.16 billion. Again projected to an entire 
     year, that number should reach $4.1 billion, half a billion 
     dollars more than for 1993.
       This year, U.S. exports to Mexico of many ag commodities 
     and products have increased substantially. Feed grains, 
     soybeans, cotton, tobacco, peanuts, soybean oil, sugars and 
     sweeteners, red meats, poultry and fresh fruit have all seen 
     increases in the half year since trade barriers were relaxed 
     or removed.
       Higher shipments of corn and soybeans are leading the 
     increase, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike 
     Espy, who spoke to the Midwest Governors Conference in 
     Lincoln in August. Corn exports were up 350 percent; 
     soybeans, 61 percent; poultry, 26 percent; and beef and veal, 
     52 percent.
       According to the Clinton Administration, these increased 
     exports to Mexico--along with increases to Canada, the third 
     partner in NAFTA--will mean up to 100,000 new jobs in the 
     U.S. Opponents of NAFTA had preached that the U.S. would lose 
     jobs to Mexico because of lower wages there. Instead, the 
     competitive advantage the U.S. has for its ag products, 
     particularly, has created jobs here.
       The U.S. also has increased the amount of agricultural 
     products it imports from Mexico, by 5.9 percent. For the 
     entire 1994 year, imports should be around $2.9 billion. When 
     compared with our exports of $4.1 billion, the U.S. will show 
     a trade surplus of $1.2 billion in farm products. Compared 
     with last year, we're buying more coffee, tea, snack foods 
     and fruit and vegetable juices from Mexico--although coffee 
     and tea were already duty-free before NAFTA worked its magic 
     on trade barriers.
       The six-month report on NAFTA should go a long way to ease 
     the fears of opponents who said the U.S. would lose from the 
     trade agreements. U.S. farmers haven't lost markets, instead 
     they've increased their share. U.S. jobs haven't migrated to 
     Mexico, instead, new jobs have been created here.
       The news on NAFTA is positive, but there will likely be 
     better news to come: the expected passage of the long-sought 
     General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade will make NAFTA's 
     effects pale in comparison, according to Espy and others, and 
     will boost the economies of the entire world.

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