NAFTA
Border booms as trade increases
The border area between Texas and Mexico has grown rapidly since the 1970s, with NAFTA giving a further boost. Economic development specialists in the Rio Grande Valley — the stretch between Brownville and McAllen — say the region was on a fast track before the treaty. But the free-trade agreement between Mexico and the United States gave the often-ignored region a higher profile, both within Texas and nationally. If Congress had not ratified NAFTA, said Nancy Boultinghouse of the McAllen Economic Development Corp., Mexicans "would have been highly insulted — and so would have I."
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