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the market opportunities that are created by the economic growth 

 in Mexico. 



The NAFTA will raise the standard of living in Mexico, 

 creating new markets for U. S. products, including those from our 

 farms. At the same time, the economic activity in Mexico, as a 

 result of freer trade between 360 million consumers, will result 

 in increased employment in Mexico, alleviating part of the human 

 misery that drives Mexican citizens across the Rio Grande to seek 

 illegal employment in the United States. It will also provide the 

 economic steam engine to help Mexico improve its labor and 

 environmental standards. Without the NAFTA, there is no assurance 

 that these things will ever happen. Which is the better hemi- 

 sphere to live in - pre-NAFTA or post-l'IAFTA? 



The NAFTA will create new, long-term growth opportunities 

 for U.S. farm exports in the Western Hemisphere far into the next 

 century. The USDA's Office of Economics' most recent appraisal of 

 the Agreement's impact on agricultural trade contains the follow- 

 ing: 



"In the year 2008, when the Agreement is fully 

 implemented, U.S. farm exports are estimated to be $2 

 to $2.5 billion higher than without the Agreement. Most 

 of that will be gains in U.S. farm exports to Mexico. 

 Farm exports to Mexico have been on an upswing due 

 primarily to Mexico's lowered barriers to U.S. agricul- 

 tural imports at the same time its economy boomed." 



