More on NAFTA...

Well at least something good has come out of the Dems' debate on NAFTA: It seems to have brought all the free traders out of hiding, including the New York Times, the WaPo and today, Fareed Zakaria, editor of the WaPo's sister publication, Newsweek International. In a column that appears simultaneously in the WaPo and in Newsweek, Zakaria takes issue with candidate Clinton and Obama's stance on NAFTA. Here's the crux of Zakaria's piece:

"The facts about trade have been too well rehearsed to go into them in any great detail, but let me point out that NAFTA has been pivotal in transforming Mexico into a stable democracy with a growing economy. And, in Lawrence Summers's words, "[it] didn't cost the United States a penny. It contributed to the strength of our economy because of more exports and because imports helped to reduce inflation." Trade between the NAFTA countries has boomed since 1993, growing by about $700 billion. There are no serious economists or experts who believe that low wages in Mexico or China or India is the fundamental reason that American factories close down. And labor and environmental standards would do very little to change the reality of huge wage differentials between poor and rich countries' workers."

"Hillary Clinton," says Zakaria, "has proposed that free-trade deals be re-evaluated every five years, which is absurd. The benefits of trade deals rest on the fact that they are permanent."

Clearly there's a lot of pandering going on here -- after all, it's election time. But we ought to remember that trade agreements open markets to US manufacturers, the best, most competitive manufacturers in the world. In the end, that should be the message of hope for everyone.