They Haven't Shut Up Yet

Economists say it's too early to gauge the overall effect of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in January. But seven months after Al Gore and Ross Perot, right, squared off over the treaty, the Administration and Perot are still going at it. The Commerce Department publishes the relentlessly upbeat NAFTA News, while Perot's United We Stand America publishes the pessimistic Afta-NAFTA Update. Some excerpts:

NAFTA News: "January trade statistics revealed that in the first month of NAFTA implementation the U.S. trade surplus with Mexico nearly doubled from December 1993. U.S. exports increased $400 million."

Afta-NAFTA Update: "Nintendo of America announced on Jan. 10 that it was moving 136 jobs from its U.S. payrolls to Mexico. Because of a NAFTA provision, these unemployed workers qualify for federal entitlements, including welfare benefits paid for by U.S. tax dollars."

NN: "Big Three auto exports from the U.S. and Canada to Mexico for the first quarter reached 9,925 units, compared with 9,479 exported during all of 1993. Chrysler, Ford and GM are expecting to export a combined 55,000 cars and trucks to Mexico in 1994."

ANU: "Hours after NAFTA was signed, General Motors notified Detroit Steel of Indiana, which manufactured springs, that GM was pulling their work out of Indiana and sending it to Mexico. GM will save 40 cents per spring. Before NAFTA the tariff on springs imported from Mexico was 40 cents."

NN: "On Jan. 3 Ellicott Machine Corp. ((of Baltimore)) announced that it had sold two Series 370 Dragon dredges to two leading Mexican construction firms. The red, white and blue dredges were named by their purchasers in honor of Presidents Clinton and Salinas for their successful work on NAFTA."

ANU: "Phillips Lighting ((of West Virginia)) laid off 60 workers, including some who had worked for the company for 27 years, as the company moved its operations to Mexico."