FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

President Bill Clinton won a hardfought, but decisive battle last week when the House of Representatives voted 234 to 200 to approve NAFTA—the North American Free Trade Agreement. That's a much wider margin than most observers anticipated. NAFTA will bind Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. into a trilateral trade agreement that will, among other things, eliminate tariffs on trade among the three countries over a 15-year period. The vote was a victory not only for the Clinton Administration, but also for the chemical industry. Chemical industry executives and trade associations were among the treaty's earliest supporters. Most lobbied long and hard for NAFTA's passage, stressing that eliminating tariffs will increase U.S. chemical exports to Mexico. NAFTA also will make it easier for U.S. chemical companies to invest in Mexican industry, and to protect their patents and other intellectual property. The House vote was considered the major stumbling block on NAFTA's road to approval in the ...