om a debt overhang and it was hard to grow at all without money from the capital markets. But now, Mexico has regained access to capital markets very quickly and the integration stimulated by NAFTA is helping to make this recovery sustainable." NAFTA to FTAA? With the Mexican economy in recovery, the Clinton administration is seeking fast track authority to expand NAFTA to include other Western Hemisphere countries in a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement, starting with Chile. Chile has been interested in joining since NAFTA began, but Mexicos financial crisis created congressional opposition to U.S. involvement in a larger agreement. Now, Chile is back and is an attractive candidate: It is the first country in the region to privatize state enterprises, slash tariffs, liberalize investment and open its doors to foreign capital. Analysts suggest that growing competition from Europe and Asia for Latin American markets may make Congress more willing to grant the fast track authority, which lets a trade pact go to Congress for a vote without being subject to amendment. The issue is undergoing congressional hearings, where latent mistrust and dislike of NAFTA is surfacing. It would be crazy to expand NAFTA based on its performance, said Public Citizens McGinn. The AFL-CIO says NAFTA exports factories and jobs to Mexico, and we will continue to fight over labor standards, human rights and environmental protection. The Teamsters Union is dead set against any expansion of NAFTA. Many say, however, that the tide toward global trade liberalization is unstoppable, with or without NAFTA. Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes has seen his countrys political and economic ups and downs for more than half a century and says in his recent book, A New Time for Mexico, that NAFTA institutionalized the growing relationship among the three North American economies. Fuentes said, That relationship would have increased with or without NAFTA, but NAFTA sp...
