The Summit of the Americas

At the center of the summit of 34 hemispheric leaders that President Clinton opened in Miami Friday lies the purpose of advancing the economic integration and convergence of the Americas.

It is the right purpose, and the right time to reach for it. The Cold War is over, and a new shared focus of hemispheric striving is due. The United States does not inspire the old fears of imperial overreach; Latin and Caribbean nations have more confidence in their capacity to bargain with their biggest neighbor.

Successful consummation of a North American free-trade area and congressional approval of the new world trade agreement have set the stage for extending free trade soon to Chile and by 2005 to the rest of the hemisphere.

The hemisphere is already on the way to forming assorted subregional trading blocs. The Clinton administration propelled the summit to expedite movement to a single universal bloc. Plenty of relevant experience has shown there are measurable advantages in jobs, exports and wealth for countries that take the new path. Not that the path is cost--or friction--free. In the United States and elsewhere, labor, environmental and human- rights groups and their political representatives insist that their claims be heard by spokesmen of expanding investment and trade.

Throughout the hemisphere, however, the forces of trade are ascendant. They can best consolidate their advantage by showing respect for interests on the other side.

Trade gets the attention in Miami. Behind the economic agenda, however, rests a serious political purpose. It goes beyond the (irregular) boost that economic modernization can give to political modernization.

The proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas is open only to democracies. That rule lets in some arguable cases (Peru) but emphatically excludes Communist Cuba, which finds itself fenced out of a historic post-Cold War project of hemispheric integration.

-- The Washington Post