Editorials
Wednesday, April 15, 1998

Expanding free trade
to South America

JUST back from Africa, President Clinton leaves tomorrow for Santiago, Chile, to meet with Latin American leaders and attend the second Summit of the Americas. The African trip featured feel-good meetings with South Africa's Nelson Mandela and an apology for the American role in African slavery. The Latin American trip will be more about trade. Unlike Africa, South America and the Caribbean are vital to U.S. economic interests. Between 1988 and 1997, U.S. exports to Latin America nearly tripled from $46 billion in 1988 to $134 billion last year. Latin American economies are among the fastest growing in the world.

Clinton's record on trade liberalization, a key to greater prosperity for Americans as well as the peoples of the United States' trading partners, is mixed. In 1993, to his credit, Clinton won approval by Congress of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), negotiated by the Bush administration with Canada and Mexico. The following year he and other hemispheric leaders pledged to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005. Clinton also vowed that Chile would become NAFTA's fourth member by 1995.

However, since then progress has been stalled. The administration has failed to obtain fast-track negotiating authority from Congress to expand NAFTA to Chile, and this has weakened U.S. leadership in the hemisphere on the free-trade agreement. "Fast track" simply means the administration can negotiate trade treaties that must be accepted or rejected by the Senate without amendment. The alternative permits endless tinkering with treaties by Congress, making negotiating difficult or impossible.

John P. Sweeney, a Heritage Foundation analyst, accuses Clinton of making only half-hearted efforts to obtain fast-track authority from Congress in 1995 and 1997 in the face of opposition by the AFL-CIO and other protectionist lobbies. Sweeney adds that the administration has no timetable for submitting new fast-track legislation to Congress. Yet without it the administration's negotiating hands are tied.

Without U.S. leadership, the Latin American countries might look to another model for trade liberalization, the Brazilian-led customs union called the South American Common Market (Mercosur). The U.S. is not involved in Mercosur and is subject to higher tariffs imposed on nonmembers. In effect, Washington risks being shut out of free-trade progress in the Western Hemisphere.

Under the circumstances, Clinton must do more than indulge in glowing rhetoric in Santiago. He should make a pledge to secure fast-track authority this year from Congress and invite Chile to begin immediate formal negotiations to join NAFTA. He should also reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the establishment of a hemisphere-wide free-trade area in order to maintain the project's momentum.

Refuse collection

THE United Public Workers union is holding the community hostage to its contract demands by refusing to implement automated refuse collection. UPW director Gary Rodrigues claims that the city reneged on an agreement to grant the refuse workers a 2 percent pay raise, so he retaliated by canceling the union's acceptance of an expanded automation system. The result was a stoppage of collections in some neighborhoods that resulted in the city retreating, going back to the old method while the issue is thrashed out.

City officials insist there was no commitment to the pay raise, which was rejected by the other county governments as well for the best of reasons -- they couldn't afford it. With the Harris administration declaring a crisis in the city's finances and announcing cutbacks, it defies explanation as to why the city would simultaneously approve pay raises, as Rodrigues claims.

The city has filed a suit for breach of contract over the UPW's refusal to implement the expansion of refuse automation, as previously agreed. Rodrigues, of course, is making a similar charge against the city on the pay raise. Evidently it will be up to the courts to sort this out.

In the meantime, Honolulu residents slated for new automated refuse collection may have to put up with the old system for a while. But, we trust, not for long. The new system is much more efficient and safer. If the UPW tries to stand in the way, the public should demand that it cease.

Ford Island bridge

THE Ford Island bridge, which opened today, will not only be a convenience for island residents who have been dependent on ferry service. It will make possible more intensive use of the 450-acre island in Pearl Harbor.

The Navy has a development plan for the island that calls for 500 homes for naval personnel, a learning center, a museum and a hotel to be built over the next decade. In addition, visitor access to the decommissioned battleship Missouri, due here this year from the West Coast, is expected to be from the island.

None of that would be possible without the $78 million bridge, which has been envisioned for a quarter of a century. This is a concrete floating bridge, one of six in the world. Construction finally began in January 1996 after the funding problem was solved through the sale of Navy property in Pearl City to the city and county. Senator Inouye, who drafted the bill authorizing the sale, was the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremonies.

There is a drawbridge in the middle of the structure for marine traffic, which when retracted will create a space large enough to let an aircraft carrier through. Because no aircraft carriers are berthed at Pearl Harbor, the Navy plans to open the drawbridge only three times a year, mainly for ceremonial occasions and maintenance. Unless, of course, war breaks out.

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor