It doesn't take a proclamation from Mount Olympus to know that congressional approval of the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico was a watershed event.
Had the North American Free Trade Agreement gone down to defeat, other things would have gone down with it. Among them: Bill Clinton's clout as a world leader; American leverage in international trade; rapport between the United States and Latin America; the stock market rally and the self-confidence index.If the United States had been afraid to expand trade with Mexico, an economy 20 times smaller than ours, how could we expect to compete successfully with developed nations such as Germany and Japan?
It's true that some American jobs may be lost as Mexican products, especially farm products, are shipped into this country during the winter growing season. U.S. plants making household glass and other simple items may take a hit from Mexican competitors.
But the flow of finished goods in the other direction - from the United States to Mexico - will more than make up for any losses.
Rarely mentioned in the acrimonious debate over NAFTA were the protections in the treaty for U.S. copyrights, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property, including software and databases.
Nor has much been said about the new opportunities in Mexico for American banks, brokerages, insurance companies and other financial service companies. Many are ready to open subsidiaries there.
Clinton is taking heat for the concessions and pork-barrel projects he promised to win votes in Florida and other states for NAFTA. It was not a pleasant spectacle. Nor was there anything noble about it. But the alternative would have been to sit back, promise nothing and let the protectionists carry the day.
Often forgotten in the sparring over who deserves credit, or who deserves blame, is the fact that NAFTA was a Republican initiative, put forth by the Bush administration in August of 1992, three months before the presidential election.
To his credit, Clinton picked up the ball and ran with it, but there would have been no North American Free Trade Agreement without spadework by George Bush and his chief negotiator, Carla Hills.