PERSPECTIVE ON COMMERCE : Mexican Trade Is a Bipartisan Issue : If our nation turns its back, it will deal a grievous blow to democracy and economic reform in the hemisphere.

This week Congress will face a seminal decision: whether to approve the so-called fast-track legislation enabling the Administration to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Mexico. We strongly urge Congress to grant this authority. In our opinion, such an agreement would be the most constructive measure the United States would have undertaken in our hemisphere in this century.

The agreement is part of the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, which looks ahead to a community of neighbors united by free trade and strengthened by expanded investment flows, environ- mental protection and a reduced official debt burden.

The proposal is well-timed. The nations of Latin America are moving forward in rare harmony and through remarkably free and democratic processes to open their economies, stamp out inflation and expand economic output. The enterprise initiative is the right response by the United States to such dramatic progress in Latin America.

A free-trade agreement with Mexico would contribute to a closer and more cooperative relationship with our southern neighbor, whose population is approaching 100 million and with whom we share a border of 2,000 miles. The destinies of our two countries are increasingly linked; the free-trade agreement would accelerate the trend. Mexico is already becoming a major market for U.S. goods and services--it is our third-largest trading partner, behind only Canada and Japan. In 1990, U.S. exports to Mexico approached $27 billion, while exports to all of Latin America were larger than those to Japan.

This growth in U.S. exports to Mexico is due in important part to the dramatic reduction of Mexican import barriers and to the dynamic leadership of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, under whose administration Mexico has turned increasingly toward market economics. The free-trade agreement would only accelerate these opportunities.

We take most seriously the issues raised in connection with Mexico’s environmental protection and labor standards. Considerable progress has been made, as evidenced by the closing of the oil refinery in Mexico City. Nevertheless, we agree that it is appropriate for Congress to register a special concern that the eventual agreement be accompanied by appropriate measures in these areas.

The free-trade agreement with Mexico would therefore be an essential first step toward building a more enduring relationship with Latin America. Such a relationship will enable our country to compete more effectively in the new global environment. It cannot but be helpful to find global solutions to such problems as the environment and nuclear proliferation.

We are persuaded that if our nation turns its back on the enterprise initiative, it will deal a grievous blow to democracy and economic reform in the hemisphere. For it will surely be taken as a sign that the United States is not really prepared to participate decisively in supporting what is a historic effort in Latin America to turn the corner toward prosperity. The consequences will reverberate throughout Latin America, where a U.S.-Mexican agreement is seen as the opening of a new chapter in U.S.-Latin American relations.

We see no incompatibility between free trade within the Americas, on the one hand, and a strengthened multilateral system, the objective of the Uruguay Round of negotiations in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, on the other. We endorse the dual strategy reflected in the request for fast-track authority for both. Enhanced free trade between the United States and its regional partners does not raise barriers to non-regional trade. Indeed, the enterprise initiative will add measurably to the constituency of nations committed to liberalized trade.

This is an issue that transcends partisanship and that is why we urge from both parties a vote to extend the fast-track authority. The enterprise initiative, with its opening round of a Mexican free-trade agreement, is an extraordinary opportunity to build a new sense of community in the Americas.

Our country is once again at a historic turning point in its relations with the other nations of this Hemisphere; the issue hangs on Congress’ decision.