1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,760 Thank you. 2 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:12,760 Thank you. 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:13,760 Thank you. 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:20,760 Thank you very much. 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,760 Thank you. 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,760 Thank you. 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,460 Thank you very much. 8 00:00:31,460 --> 00:00:35,000 I'm delighted to see all of you here. 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,380 I thank Speaker Foley and Republican leader Bob 10 00:00:40,380 --> 00:00:42,200 Michael for joining us today. 11 00:00:45,260 --> 00:00:46,900 There are so many people to thank. 12 00:00:46,900 --> 00:00:49,060 And the Vice President did a marvelous job. 13 00:00:49,060 --> 00:00:53,680 I do want to mention, if I might, just three others. 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,660 Laura Tyson, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, 15 00:00:58,660 --> 00:01:03,060 Bob Rubin, the head of my national economic team, 16 00:01:03,060 --> 00:01:05,340 and one Republican member of the House 17 00:01:05,340 --> 00:01:07,240 that wasn't mentioned, Congressman David Dreyer, 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,720 who went with me on a rainy day to Louisiana 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,660 to campaign for NAFTA. 20 00:01:12,660 --> 00:01:14,320 There are many others that I might mention, 21 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:17,380 but I thank all of you for what you have done. 22 00:01:17,380 --> 00:01:19,840 I also can't help but note that in spite of all the rest 23 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:26,840 of our efforts, there was that magic moment on Larry King. 24 00:01:28,660 --> 00:01:45,300 which made a lot of difference. 25 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,340 And I thank the Vice President for that and for so much else. 26 00:01:50,340 --> 00:01:54,340 in the campaign 27 00:01:54,340 --> 00:01:58,800 when we decided to come out for NAFTA. 28 00:01:59,140 --> 00:02:02,820 He was a strong supporter of that position in our personal meetings 29 00:02:02,820 --> 00:02:05,800 long before we knew whether we would even be here or not. 30 00:02:07,020 --> 00:02:10,740 I also would be remiss if I did not personally thank 31 00:02:10,740 --> 00:02:14,680 both Mickey Cantor and Matt McClarty for the work they did, especially 32 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,680 in the closing days with the Mexican trade representatives and the 33 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:24,460 Mexican government. I'd also like to welcome here the representatives from Mexico and Canada and 34 00:02:24,460 --> 00:02:29,600 tell them they are, in fact, welcome here. They are our partners in the future that we are trying 35 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:47,680 to make together. I want to say a special word of thanks to the cabinet because we have tried to 36 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,220 do something that I have not always seen in the past. 37 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:55,360 We try to get all of our departments and all of our cabinet leaders to work together on 38 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,000 all the things that we all care about. 39 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:03,620 A lot of them, therefore, had to take a lot of personal time and business time away from 40 00:03:03,620 --> 00:03:05,700 their very busy schedules to do this. 41 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:12,000 I thank the former leaders of our government that were mentioned and our military. 42 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:27,980 I can't help but noting, since General Powell is here, that every senior military officer with whom I spoke about NAFTA was perhaps, they were as a group, perhaps the most intensely supportive of any group I spoke with. 43 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:34,740 and I think it is because they have in their bones the experience of the world the last several decades, 44 00:03:34,740 --> 00:03:39,520 and they knew we could not afford to turn away from our leadership responsibilities 45 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,580 and our constructive involvement in the world. 46 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:49,280 And many of them, of course, still in uniform, were not permitted to say that in public and should not have been, 47 00:03:49,340 --> 00:03:50,660 but I think I can say that today. 48 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,740 I was profoundly personally moved by the remarks that they made. 49 00:03:57,980 --> 00:04:08,840 I do want to say also a special word of thanks to all the citizens who helped us, 50 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:15,460 the business leaders, the labor folks, the environmental people who came out and worked through this, 51 00:04:15,540 --> 00:04:20,840 and many of them had great criticism, particularly in the environmental movement 52 00:04:21,420 --> 00:04:23,060 and some of the working people who helped us. 53 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,640 And a group that was quite pivotal to our success that I want to acknowledge specifically 54 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:33,240 are the small business people, many of whom got themselves organized and came forward and tried to help us. 55 00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:34,580 They made a real difference. 56 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:45,580 And they've been mentioned, but I couldn't let this moment go by without thanking my good friend Bill Daley 57 00:04:45,580 --> 00:04:50,420 and Congressman Bill Frenzel for their work in helping to mobilize this effort. 58 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,000 Congressman Frenzel wrote me a great letter the other day and sent me one of his famous doodles 59 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,040 that he doodled around the NAFTA legislation, 60 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,340 which I'm now having framed. 61 00:05:01,340 --> 00:05:04,340 But they sort of represented the bipartisan spirit 62 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:07,680 that captured the Congress and captured the country 63 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:20,714 in the cause of change I hope that we can have more of that in the days and months and years ahead It was a very fine thing This whole issue turned out to be a defining moment for our nation 64 00:05:22,094 --> 00:05:27,094 I spoke with one of the folks who was in the reception just a few moments ago 65 00:05:27,094 --> 00:05:32,374 who told me that he was in China watching the vote on international television 66 00:05:32,374 --> 00:05:36,174 when it was taken, and he said you would have had to be there to understand 67 00:05:36,174 --> 00:05:40,014 how important this was to the rest of the world. 68 00:05:40,654 --> 00:05:44,614 Not because of the terms of NAFTA, 69 00:05:44,774 --> 00:05:47,274 which basically is a trade agreement 70 00:05:47,274 --> 00:05:50,094 between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, 71 00:05:50,374 --> 00:05:53,994 but because it became a symbolic struggle 72 00:05:53,994 --> 00:05:58,834 for the spirit of our country 73 00:05:58,834 --> 00:06:02,614 and for how we would approach this very difficult 74 00:06:02,614 --> 00:06:04,234 and rapidly changing world 75 00:06:04,234 --> 00:06:08,534 dealing with our own considerable challenges here at home. 76 00:06:10,154 --> 00:06:17,354 I believe we have made a decision now that will permit us to create an economic order in the world 77 00:06:17,354 --> 00:06:22,254 that will promote more growth, more equality, better preservation of the environment, 78 00:06:22,634 --> 00:06:25,074 and a greater possibility of world peace. 79 00:06:25,974 --> 00:06:33,034 We are on the verge of a global economic expansion that is sparked by the fact that the United States, 80 00:06:33,034 --> 00:06:37,374 at this critical moment decided that we would compete, not retreat. 81 00:06:38,594 --> 00:06:43,934 In a few moments, I will sign the North American Free Trade Act into law. 82 00:06:44,814 --> 00:06:47,814 NAFTA will tear down trade barriers between our three nations. 83 00:06:47,814 --> 00:06:56,314 It will create the world's largest trade zone and create 200,000 jobs in this country by 1995 alone. 84 00:06:57,014 --> 00:07:01,354 The environmental and labor side agreements negotiated by our administration 85 00:07:01,354 --> 00:07:06,614 will make this agreement a force for social progress as well as economic growth. 86 00:07:07,994 --> 00:07:13,274 Already the confidence we've displayed by ratifying NAFTA has begun to bear fruit. 87 00:07:13,934 --> 00:07:18,814 We're now making real progress toward a worldwide trade agreement so significant 88 00:07:18,814 --> 00:07:24,534 that it could make the material gains of NAFTA for our country look small by comparison. 89 00:07:25,294 --> 00:07:29,154 Today we have the chance to do what our parents did before us. 90 00:07:29,154 --> 00:07:32,034 we have the opportunity to remake the world. 91 00:07:32,954 --> 00:07:40,654 For this new era, our national security we now know will be determined as much by our ability to pull down foreign trade barriers 92 00:07:40,654 --> 00:07:44,114 as by our ability to breach distant ramparts. 93 00:07:44,814 --> 00:07:47,094 Once again, we are leading. 94 00:07:47,774 --> 00:07:51,674 And in so doing, we are rediscovering the fundamental truth about ourselves. 95 00:07:52,314 --> 00:07:54,794 When we lead, we build security. 96 00:07:55,214 --> 00:07:57,674 We build prosperity for our own people. 97 00:07:58,334 --> 00:08:00,254 We've learned this lesson the hard way. 98 00:08:01,014 --> 00:08:05,414 Twice before in this century, we have been forced to define our role in the world. 99 00:08:06,134 --> 00:08:10,874 After World War I, we turned inward, building walls of protectionism around our nation. 100 00:08:11,554 --> 00:08:17,634 The result was a Great Depression and, ultimately, another horrible world war. 101 00:08:18,354 --> 00:08:21,654 After the Second World War, we took a different course. 102 00:08:21,814 --> 00:08:22,514 We reached outward. 103 00:08:23,334 --> 00:08:29,394 Gifted leaders of both political parties built a new order based on collective security and expanded trade. 104 00:08:29,954 --> 00:08:34,014 They created a foundation of stability and created, in the process, 105 00:08:34,614 --> 00:08:38,914 the conditions which led to the explosion of the great American middle class, 106 00:08:38,914 --> 00:08:43,994 one of the true economic miracles in the whole history of civilization. 107 00:08:45,014 --> 00:08:51,074 Their statecraft stands to this day, the IMF and the World Bank, GATT, and NATO. 108 00:08:51,854 --> 00:08:57,774 In this very auditorium in 1949, President Harry Truman signed one of the charter documents 109 00:08:57,774 --> 00:09:03,434 of this golden era of American leadership, the North Atlantic Treaty that created NATO. 110 00:09:04,514 --> 00:09:08,514 In this pact, we hope to create a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression, 111 00:09:08,514 --> 00:09:13,394 Truman told his audience, a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the real business 112 00:09:13,394 --> 00:09:19,454 of government and society, the business of achieving a fuller and happier life for our citizens. 113 00:09:20,254 --> 00:09:26,754 Now the institutions built by Truman and Acheson, by Marshall and Vandenberg, have accomplished their task. 114 00:09:27,314 --> 00:09:28,554 The Cold War is over. 115 00:09:28,554 --> 00:09:37,534 The grim certitude of the contest with communism has been replaced by the exuberant uncertainty of international economic competition. 116 00:09:38,574 --> 00:09:46,534 And the great question of this day is how to ensure security for our people at a time when change is the only constant. 117 00:09:46,534 --> 00:09:52,194 Make no mistake, the global economy, with all of its promise and perils, is now the 118 00:09:52,194 --> 00:09:56,014 central fact of life for hardworking Americans. 119 00:09:56,014 --> 00:10:01,294 It has enriched the lives of millions of Americans, but for too many those same winds of change 120 00:10:01,294 --> 00:10:05,314 have worn away at the basis of their security. 121 00:10:05,314 --> 00:10:08,774 For two decades, most people have worked harder for less. 122 00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:12,154 Seemingly secure jobs have been lost. 123 00:10:12,154 --> 00:10:18,074 And while America once again is the most productive nation on earth, this productivity itself holds 124 00:10:18,074 --> 00:10:20,654 the seeds of further insecurity. 125 00:10:20,654 --> 00:10:34,269 After all productivity means the same people can produce more or very often that fewer people can produce more This is the world we face We cannot stop global change We cannot repeal the international 126 00:10:34,269 --> 00:10:39,769 economic competition that is everywhere. We can only harness the energy to our benefit. 127 00:10:40,449 --> 00:10:45,369 Now we must recognize that the only way for a wealthy nation to grow richer is to export, 128 00:10:45,369 --> 00:10:49,869 to simply find new customers for the products and services it makes. 129 00:10:50,429 --> 00:10:57,049 That, my fellow Americans, is the decision that Congress made when they voted to ratify NAFTA. 130 00:11:08,669 --> 00:11:12,989 I am gratified with the work that Congress has done this year bringing the deficit down 131 00:11:12,989 --> 00:11:18,269 and keeping interest rates down, getting housing starts and new jobs going upward. 132 00:11:18,909 --> 00:11:27,629 But we know that over the long run, our ability to have our internal economic policies work for the benefit of our people 133 00:11:27,629 --> 00:11:34,109 requires us to have external economic policies that permit productivity to find expression, 134 00:11:34,349 --> 00:11:40,529 not simply in higher incomes for our businesses, but in more jobs and higher incomes for our people. 135 00:11:40,529 --> 00:11:42,449 that means more customers. 136 00:11:42,669 --> 00:11:46,569 There is no other way, not for the United States or for Europe or for Japan 137 00:11:46,569 --> 00:11:49,589 or for any other wealthy nation in the world. 138 00:11:58,369 --> 00:12:04,929 That is why I'm gratified that we had such a good meeting after the NAFTA vote in the House 139 00:12:04,929 --> 00:12:07,729 with the Asian Pacific leaders in Washington. 140 00:12:08,689 --> 00:12:15,169 I am gratified that, as Vice President Gore and Chief of Staff Mike McCarty announced two weeks ago when they met with President Salinas, 141 00:12:15,729 --> 00:12:25,449 next year the nations of this hemisphere will gather in an economic summit that will plan how to extend the benefits of trade to the emerging market democracies of all the Americas. 142 00:12:26,229 --> 00:12:30,349 And now I am pleased that we have the opportunity to secure the biggest breakthrough of all. 143 00:12:31,309 --> 00:12:37,029 Negotiators from 112 nations are seeking to conclude negotiations on a new round of the 144 00:12:37,029 --> 00:12:38,889 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 145 00:12:39,309 --> 00:12:45,189 A historic worldwide trade pact, one that would spur a global economic boom, is now 146 00:12:45,189 --> 00:12:46,169 within our grasp. 147 00:12:46,829 --> 00:12:47,669 Let me be clear. 148 00:12:48,369 --> 00:12:52,349 We cannot, nor should we, settle for a bad GATT agreement. 149 00:12:52,869 --> 00:12:58,049 But we will not flag in our efforts to secure a good one in these closing days. 150 00:12:58,049 --> 00:13:05,589 We are prepared to make our contributions to the success of this negotiation, but we insist that other nations do their part as well. 151 00:13:06,169 --> 00:13:08,829 We must not squander this opportunity. 152 00:13:09,589 --> 00:13:17,509 I call on all the nations of the world to seize this moment and close the deal on a strong GATT agreement within the next week. 153 00:13:28,049 --> 00:13:36,529 I say to everyone, even to our negotiators, don't rest, don't sleep. Close the deal. 154 00:13:38,849 --> 00:13:43,729 I told Mickey Cantor the other day that we rewarded his laborious effort on NAFTA 155 00:13:44,369 --> 00:13:48,369 with a vacation at the GATT talks. 156 00:13:51,889 --> 00:13:55,969 My fellow Americans, bit by bit, all these things are creating the conditions 157 00:13:55,969 --> 00:13:58,229 of a sustained global expansion. 158 00:13:58,809 --> 00:14:02,949 As significant as they are, our goals must be more ambitious. 159 00:14:03,909 --> 00:14:07,769 The United States must seek nothing less than a new trading system 160 00:14:07,769 --> 00:14:10,829 that benefits all nations through robust commerce, 161 00:14:11,209 --> 00:14:15,889 but that protects our middle class and gives other nations a chance to grow one, 162 00:14:16,189 --> 00:14:21,669 that lifts workers and the environment up without dragging people down, 163 00:14:22,169 --> 00:14:25,849 that seeks to ensure that our policies reflect our values, 164 00:14:26,689 --> 00:14:28,989 Our agenda must, therefore, be far-reaching. 165 00:14:29,569 --> 00:14:33,429 We are determining that dynamic trade cannot lead to environmental despoilation. 166 00:14:33,969 --> 00:14:39,029 We will seek new institutional arrangements to ensure that trade leaves the world cleaner than before. 167 00:14:40,429 --> 00:14:49,409 We will press for workers in all countries to secure rights that we now take for granted to organize and earn a decent living. 168 00:14:49,889 --> 00:14:53,849 We will insist that expanded trade be fair to our businesses and to our regions. 169 00:14:54,549 --> 00:15:00,489 No country should use cartels, subsidies, or rules of entry to keep our products off its shelves. 170 00:15:01,309 --> 00:15:07,109 And we must see to it that our citizens have the personal security to confidently participate in this new era. 171 00:15:07,829 --> 00:15:14,049 Every worker must receive the education and training he or she needs to reap the rewards of international competition, 172 00:15:14,049 --> 00:15:16,209 rather than to bear its burdens. 173 00:15:16,929 --> 00:15:20,049 Next year, our administration will propose comprehensive legislation 174 00:15:20,049 --> 00:15:27,109 to transform our unemployment system into a re-employment and job retraining system for the 21st century. 175 00:15:33,989 --> 00:15:46,203 And above all I say to you we must seek to reconstruct the broad political coalition for expanded trade For decades working men and women and their representatives supported policies 176 00:15:46,203 --> 00:15:51,383 that brought us prosperity and security. That was because we recognized that expanded trade 177 00:15:51,383 --> 00:15:56,683 benefited all of us, but that we have an obligation to protect those workers who do bear the brunt 178 00:15:56,683 --> 00:16:02,003 of competition by giving them a chance to be retrained and to go on to a new and different 179 00:16:02,003 --> 00:16:05,203 an ultimately more secure and more rewarding way of work. 180 00:16:05,743 --> 00:16:08,943 In recent years, this social contract has been sundered. 181 00:16:09,443 --> 00:16:10,503 It cannot continue. 182 00:16:11,243 --> 00:16:14,983 When I affix my signature to the NAFTA legislation a few moments from now, 183 00:16:15,543 --> 00:16:19,123 I do so with this pledge to the men and women of our country 184 00:16:19,123 --> 00:16:20,943 who were afraid of these changes 185 00:16:20,943 --> 00:16:25,963 and found in their opposition to NAFTA an expression of that fear, 186 00:16:26,463 --> 00:16:30,583 what I thought was a wrong expression and what I know was a wrong expression, 187 00:16:30,583 --> 00:16:33,603 but nonetheless represented legitimate fears. 188 00:16:34,223 --> 00:16:37,483 The gains from this agreement will be your gains, too. 189 00:16:38,163 --> 00:16:43,843 I ask those who oppose NAFTA to work with us to guarantee that the labor and side agreements are enforced. 190 00:16:44,443 --> 00:16:49,703 And I call on all of us who believe in NAFTA to join with me to urge the Congress 191 00:16:49,703 --> 00:16:52,943 to create the world's best worker training and retraining system. 192 00:16:52,943 --> 00:16:57,303 We owe it to the business community as well as to the working men and women of this country. 193 00:16:57,303 --> 00:17:04,303 It means greater productivity, lower unemployment, greater worker efficiency, and higher wages and greater security for our people. 194 00:17:04,383 --> 00:17:05,243 We have to do that. 195 00:17:15,723 --> 00:17:22,243 We seek a new and more open global trading system not for its own sake, but for our own sake. 196 00:17:22,243 --> 00:17:27,643 Good jobs, rewarding careers, broadened horizons for the middle-class Americans can only be 197 00:17:27,643 --> 00:17:31,723 secured by expanding exports and global growth. 198 00:17:31,723 --> 00:17:36,923 For too long, our step has been unsteady as the ground has shifted beneath our feet. 199 00:17:36,923 --> 00:17:43,163 Today, as I sign the North American Free Trade Agreement into law and call for further progress 200 00:17:43,163 --> 00:17:48,423 on GATT, I believe we have found our footing. 201 00:17:48,423 --> 00:17:55,083 And I ask all of you to be steady, to recognize that there is no turning back from the world 202 00:17:55,083 --> 00:17:56,983 of today and tomorrow. 203 00:17:56,983 --> 00:18:02,423 We must face the challenges, embrace them with confidence, deal with the problems honestly 204 00:18:02,423 --> 00:18:07,263 and openly, and make this world work for all of us. 205 00:18:07,263 --> 00:18:12,283 America is where it should be, in the lead, setting the pace, showing the confidence that 206 00:18:12,283 --> 00:18:15,243 all of us need to face tomorrow. 207 00:18:15,243 --> 00:18:17,823 We are ready to compete, and we can win. 208 00:18:18,423 --> 00:18:19,283 Thank you very much. 209 00:18:19,283 --> 00:18:20,283 Thank you. 210 00:18:48,423 --> 00:19:00,283 As I sit down to sign this, I do want to say one thing just for the benefit more than anything else of the members of Congress who are here. 211 00:19:01,043 --> 00:19:11,823 I'm going to give the first of these pens to a person who is leaving my employ, but without whom we could not have passed this bill, my friend Howard Pastor. 212 00:19:11,823 --> 00:19:13,323 Thank you. 213 00:19:18,423 --> 00:19:48,403 Thank you. 214 00:19:48,423 --> 00:20:18,403 Thank you. 215 00:20:18,423 --> 00:20:34,243 Thank you. 216 00:20:48,423 --> 00:21:18,403 Thank you.