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Friday, July 14, 2006
NAFTA highway faces uncertain future
The Business Journal of Phoenix - by Mike Sunnucks The Business Journal
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A proposed business-backed superhighway link between Arizona, Mexico and Canada is running into skepticism about whether it actually will be built and worries that it will result in more U.S. and Mexican job losses to China.
The planned Canamex corridor is a one of a series of so-called North American Free Trade Agreement superhighways ballyhooed as improving trade and transportation links between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. The corridor involves improving and linking highways from Mexico City and the Mexican state of Sonora through Nogales, Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City and north into Alberta, Canada.
Phoenix Congressman Ed Pastor, a key border state lawmaker, questions whether the superhighway will ever happen, and free-trade skeptics worry such a corridor will make it easier for Chinese goods to get into North America -- which they say could result in more U.S. and Mexican job losses to Asia.
The planned roadway would traverse Arizona via Interstates 10 and 19 and Route 93 over the Hoover Dam. Backers of Canamex include business groups and free-trade advocates. They see the corridor as a way to increase trade and tourism. Mexico and Canada are the state's top trading and tourism partners.
"It is a good idea," said Maria Luisa O'Connell, president of the Phoenix-based Border Trade Alliance.
Pastor, however, questions whether the highway link will ever be built, pointing to the lack of progress and major funding on the coordinated highway project. Canamex has been in the works since 1995.
Some states and provinces have moved forward with planning related to the corridor and improvements of some highways that will be linked to the trade route. But, more than a decade later, there has yet to be major funding or a sweeping, coordinated effort related to the project.
Pastor voted for NAFTA but now regrets that vote. He opposes business-backed free trade accords, citing concerns about job losses and the lack of environmental and labor standards in Latin American and Asian markets. He also worries about potential job losses if increased links to Mexico encourage companies to ship jobs out of the U.S.
The Phoenix congressman is a high-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, which gives him a hand in deciding which projects get funding, and which don't. That hand could be a lot a stronger next year if Democrats win congressional elections in November.
There also are NAFTA highways planned through Texas and other Western states. Business interests -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- support those roads, arguing they will facilitate North American trade.
