Bill Clinton has a tough job. Between running the country, dealing with several important issues, jogging daily and dealing with a great deal of criticism, the President’s days are full.

One important issue Clinton has been pushing recently is the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which will be addressed today and tomorrow at NIU.

NAFTA is a proposed expansion of the already existing free trade agreement between the United States and Canada. If NAFTA passes after Congress votes on it in approximately one month, Mexico will be allowed into the free trade agreement.

A free trade agreement eliminates internal barriers for trade between member countries, but maintains these barriers against non-member countries.

Peter Karl Kresl, an economist from Bucknell University with expertise on the economic relationship between international trade and U.S. cities, will analyze how NAFTA could affect Chicago and other major U.S. cities.

Kresl will be appearing at NIU today and tomorrow. His topic for tonight’s lecture in the Francis X. Riley courtroom of Swen Parson Hall will be “International Competitiveness of Cities.” The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tomorrow in Wirtz 314, Kresl will conduct a seminar on “Urban Economies and Regional Trade Liberalization,” beginning at 2 p.m.

Anthony Scaperlanda, NIU professor of economics, predicts that the audience for either occasion will be mostly economics students, but he said he hopes other students, as well as non-NIU students will attend as well. Scaperlanda said most of the audience will be there out of interest.

The lecture, Scaperlanda said, will be of a broader, more general interest than the seminar, which is expected to be more technical. After both occasions, a question and answer period is anticipated.

Kresl is generally recognized as one of this country’s leading experts on the subject of international trade and major cities, Scaperlanda added.

The lecture and seminar are sponsored by NIU’s Graduate Colloquium Committee and the economics department. These are part of a lecture series sponsored by the Graduate School. Ideas for these programs come from individual university departments but are financed from collected fees.

“Peter Karl Kresl, an economist from Bucknell University with expertise on the economic relationship between international trade and U.S. cities, will be appearing at NIU today and tomorrow.”