41 



Ambassador Kantor. First of all, I will leave the particulars of 

 that to the Secretary of Agriculture who has that jurisdiction. On 

 the other hand, let me address two of your questions. 



Environmental border cleanup is one of the highest priorities in 

 these negotiations that we began today on the NAFTA and supple- 

 mental agreements. That has to happen. The funding is a daunting 

 task. The chairman has given us some good and very creative ideas 

 in that regard, but that is going to be a very difficult task. Under 

 the situation we're in now, we all understand that we're trying to 

 do something about a structural budget deficit that is plaguing this 

 country. We would like to keep long-term interest low. 



To the extent that we add more weight in terms of needs to that 

 budget, we are hurting in that regard. So we have to be fairly cre- 

 ative as we come back to you and work with you with regard to 

 border cleanup. 



As far as protections, we have made it clear in the North Amer- 

 ican Free-Trade Agreement itself that we can enforce scientifically 

 based regulations to protect human health and consumption as 

 well as the use of various pesticides, herbicides, or whatever that 

 would violate U.S. law. So that is clear. 



But in terms of the details and how we inspect at the border, let 

 me just say that the Secretary of Agriculture would be much more 

 competent to answer that question than would I. 



Mr. GUNDERSON. Thank you. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



The Chairman. Mr. Ambassador — the members please forgive 

 me for adding little addenda to the conversation or the dialog 

 here — as you know, we have the La Paz Agreement, which is a bi- 

 lateral agreement with Mexico. Under that agreement, we have 

 five areas: Border sanitation, transboundary shipment of hazardous 

 waste, chemical emergencies, air pollution from copper smelters, 

 and international transport of urban air pollution. I feel that this 

 agreement could be used as a vehicle to address environmental is- 

 sues related to our two countries on the border in addition to the 

 Good Neighbor Environmental Board and in addition to a commis- 

 sion — the Gulf of Mexico. 



So there are already in existence areas of which you can avail 

 yourself. 



Ambassador Kantor. We are well aware of that. In fact, we are 

 pursuing how that fits into this North American Commission. We 

 are talking about the three-party commission on the environment 

 and how they would fit together. 



The Chairman. Actually, we have done so many things by dif- 

 ferent hands that a major coordination by your office would make 

 your life easier, or maybe more difficult, to find all these little 

 pieces and put them all together. 



But we want the best. I am sure that you are striving for that. 



Ambassador Kantor. Mr. Chairman, when the Congress wrote 

 this law and in updating it over the years made it clear that that 

 is the job I am supposed to do on behalf of the President and on 

 behalf of the Congress, frankly. The Congress was really the driv- 

 ing force in creating this office and in trying to coordinate trade 

 policy and making it a cabinet position. 



