From the Arctic to the Yucatan

A wise politician once said that when controversial issues are being discussed, it’s better to be inside talking rather than outside complaining. That’s why Canada decided to join the ongoing trade talks between the United States and Mexico.

Those talks may provide the basis for a free-trade agreement between two of the largest markets in the world--the United States and Mexico--even if getting there won’t be easy. Groups on both sides of the Rio Grande have tough questions about a U.S-Mexico free-trade pact.

U.S. organized labor worries that its members will lose jobs if businesses move south of the border, where wages are lower and environmental rules more lax. Canadian unions fear losing jobs not just to Mexico, but to the United States! And both Mexican and Canadian businessmen fear that their comparatively small economies could be overwhelmed by U.S. clout unless there are safeguards for them built into any free-trade agreement.

But doubts notwithstanding, a North American pact is worth pursuing. It would show the rest of the world that free trade works at a time when worldwide free-trade talks are stalled in Geneva. And if worst comes to worst and those international talks collapse completely, a North American pact would put all three nations in a better position to compete with other trading blocs likely to emerge in Asia and Europe.

After all, there won’t be a business worth its bottom line that won’t want access to a market of 360 million people stretching from the Arctic to the Yucatan.