GATT, NAFTA: GLOBAL TRADE, OUR FACTORIES

GATT and NAFTA are making headlines. But who, besides trade negotiators and key government officials, really understands these global trade agreements?

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the North American Free Trade Agreement have big names and even bigger potential to change the face of international trade in the years to come. NAFTA is already in effect, freeing U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico. GATT, still before Congress, would affect world trade, making the global marketplace a virtual reality.

The scope of these massive, complex agreements is scaled down to a more understandable size when businesses and industries in Southeast Missouri talk about the ways they fit into this worldwide picture.

Look at NAFTA:

Poly Systems Inc. in Steelville says the agreement helped it win a $250 million contract. Missouri exports to Mexico are up 55 percent in the first quarter of 1994 from the same 1993 quarter. The Missouri Farm Bureau says farmers are benefiting from easier access to Mexican markets. Illinois officials call Mexico the fastest-growing market for that state's exports, which rose 52 percent in the first quarter from the year before. Nationally, exports to Mexico are up 17 percent for the first half of 1994, and exports to Canada grew 10 percent in the same period.

Look at GATT:

Proctor & Gamble Co., one of the area's largest employers, says the Cincinnati-headquartered company could double its $500 million annual export sales, if tariffs and other trade regulations are lowered. In the expanded global market, P&G envisions the creation of more than 10,000 jobs for the company and its U.S. suppliers over the next decade. Congress is scheduled to take a final vote in December on GATT, which already has been signed by member nations.

Every agreement of these proportions is bound to have its detractors. The caution in Congress about GATT is prudent. But the naysayers on NAFTA are discovering benefits from the agreement are outweighing concerns in many instances.

The world marketplace is a vast labyrinth where the rules of the game haven't always been equal among nations. Both NAFTA and GATT aim to even up the competition. When family, friends and neighbors are directly affected by the positive results, global issues quickly take on personal dimensions.