Canada to Join U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Talks

WASHINGTON —  President Bush announced today that Canada will join negotiations for a free trade agreement with Mexico, saying the pact “would be a dramatic first step toward the realization of a hemispheric free trade zone.”

Bush said the trade agreement will help Mexico, Canada and the United States “meet the economic challenges of the future.”

Canada and the United States signed a free trade agreement in January, 1988.

“A free trade area encompassing all three countries would create a North American market of 360 million people with annual production of more than $6 trillion,” Bush said.

“This agreement would be a dramatic first step toward the realization of a hemispheric free trade zone stretching from Point Barrow in Alaska to the Strait of Magellan,” Bush told a news conference.

Bush said the Administration, in cooperation with Canada and Mexico, will work actively “to conclude these negotiations expeditiously.”

Bush has notified Congress that he is negotiating the agreement under the so-called fast track, meaning that the pact could not be amended by Congress. But under the fast-track timetable, opponents could kill the negotiations later this month, with a vote against the free trade agreement by either the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee.

Opponents of the free trade agreement include labor unions, which fear they will not be able to compete against cheap Mexican labor, and environmental groups, textile manufacturers and fruit and vegetable growers.

Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he believes that including Canada in the negotiations could delay the progress of free trade talks with Mexico, which are expected to get under way formally next month and conclude by year’s end. “I am still concerned about that, but Canada has made it clear that this is a matter of national concern for them--and Mexico has not objected to Canada’s participation. So I am not inclined to block Canada’s request,” Bentsen said.