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NAFTA's Strange Bedfellows
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10285 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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12 / 1993 |
2,228 Words |
| Author
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Stuart Rothenberg
Stuart Rothenberg, a Washington political analyst, is editor
and publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report. |
Earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans squared off in a classic partisan fight over the Clinton budget. Liberals and labor generally backed the president's package of tax hikes and spending cuts, while conservatives and most in the business community contended that the plan would cripple the economy. Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for that budget.
But as we near the end of the year, those partisan lines and ideological divisions have been torn apart, much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle dropped from a second-story window.
NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has not merely strained traditional coalitions, it has destroyed them and created feelings of bitterness and betrayal.
The agreement, negotiated by President George Bush and submitted to Congress by his Democratic successor, Bill Clinton, pitted free traders against fair traders and insiders against outsiders. More importantly, it pitted Democrats against Democrats and Republicans against Republicans.
THE 1992 ELECTION
The battle over NAFTA began long before Bill Clinton took his oath of office last January. In May 1991, Congress voted 231-192 to kill a resolution that would have terminated "fast-track" procedures for NAFTA. Fast-track status guaranteed that the trade package would not be subject to normal congressional delays or amendment and ensured that a yes or no vote on the pact would come within 90 days of its submission to Congress.
The agreement itself was finalized in mid-1992, and Bush released its text in September, just two months before the presidential election. Bush immediately tried to make NAFTA a campaign issue, forcing Clinton to choose between his "new Democrat" free trade stance and his allies in organized labor, who unanimously opposed the agreement. The Democrat tried to straddle the issue, first arguing that he needed more time to study the specific accord and then indicating he could support NAFTA only with additional "side agreements" dealing with environmental and labor issues.
With a Republican in the White House, it was easy for Democratic congressional opponents to criticize the GOP-negotiated trade agreement. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, who four years earlier had tried to use "fair trade" themes to catapult
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