
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 19, 1993                   TAG: 9309190073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LANSING, MICH.                                LENGTH: Medium

PEROT LEADS PROTEST AGAINST FREE TRADE PACT

The U.S. economy would be destroyed by the North American Free Trade Agreement, Ross Perot told thousands of cheering demonstrators Saturday as he called for anti-NAFTA rallies across the nation.

"If we get organized, it's dead on arrival," Perot said of the proposed free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"It will destroy our economy. It will destroy our country," he said. "And it won't help the Mexican worker."

The state Capitol rally, attended by about 2,500 people, was organized by Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Flint, who called NAFTA a "classic case of Wall Street versus Main Street."

NAFTA would wipe out most tariffs and other barriers to trade among the United States, Mexico and Canada, and would begin to take effect Jan. 1 if approved by a majority of the House and Senate. It was negotiated mainly by the Bush administration.

Although the agreement is believed to be supported by a majority in the Senate, it appears in trouble in the House, especially among Democrats.

Most Michigan Democrats and labor leaders are bitterly opposed to the agreement, which they say will lure more manufacturing jobs to Mexico, where average wages are about one-eighth what they are in the United States.

"I think if we get enough people out, they'll realize there are more against it than they thought," said Vernon Higbie, who works in a Ford Motor Co. electronics plant.

The rally, with its banners, protest signs and music touting the American worker, took on the tone of a political campaign, with congressmen from Maryland and Ohio turning out to bash NAFTA.

Riegle, up for re-election next year, downplayed any political advantage the rally might give him. But he declared: "The issue's right."

"You're going to see a coalition of Democrats, Republicans and independents to stop this NAFTA," he said. "NAFTA is a loaded gun pointed at working people in America . . . I don't believe any member of Congress should be re-elected if they vote for NAFTA."

by CNB