Beyond NAFTA: Oranges For Bulldozers

If Bush can forge a free-trade deal for the Americas, which companies will win and lose?

Some people look south of the Yucatan and see poverty and underdevelopment. Robert Petterson sees roads and bridges to be built and land to be cleared for modern housing and industry--all with the yellow earthmovers and other heavy equipment made by Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill. A quarter of the firm's $21.2 billion annual revenues comes from exports, but not enough of it from Latin America, thanks in part to tariffs that can reach 30%. Create a giant free-trade zone in the hemisphere, says Petterson, a Caterpillar vice president, and "we calculate that industrywide, over 10 years, the market for construction...

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