Freer trade

The trade treaty's surprisingly easy approval in the (U.S.) Senate is testimony to the good that Congress can do when its leaders stop squabbling and start legislating. Freer trade, by steering workers into high-paying exports jobs, could add as much as $700 to the typical family's income over the next decade. That gain was at risk until Sen. Bob Dole, the next majority leader, took responsibility for bringing wavering Republicans in line behind President Clinton's legislation.

The House also approved the agreement by a large margin. Now that the political drama is over, Americans can look forward to reaping the benefits. They are not hard to locate.

Workers and exporters in the pharmaceutical, computer software, book and movie industries win big because the agreement will prevent trading partners from pirating intellectual property. Exports of agricultural products will rise as Western Europe and Japan lower quotas and tariffs. America will sell a lot more construction and medical equipment as its largest trading partners eliminate tariffs on these products. The jobs to be had in many of these export sectors are among the highest- paying in the economy.

U.S. consumers will win. The price of farm goods -- including sugar and dairy products -- will eventually tumble. So too will the price of children's clothes and consumer electronics. The important point here is that many of the goods that will enter the country at reduced or zero tariffs, like toys and furniture, account for a sizable part of the budgets of low-income families. The trade treaty will act like a tax cut stacked in favor of the poor.

Unfortunately, it will also cause disruptions -- though there will be surprisingly few because the U.S. made so few concessions. Textile and apparel workers in the South are most vulnerable to losing their jobs in the face of increased imports of sweaters and the like from parts of Asia and other developing countries.

Constructive bipartisan negotiation broke the trade logjam. It is to be hoped that the episode foreshadows fruitful compromise on other keys to robust growth.

-- The New York Times