[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 97 (Wednesday, May 20, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27813-27814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13708]
[[Page 27811]]
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Part IV
The President
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Proclamation 7097--World Trade Week, 1998
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 97 / Wednesday, May 20, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
[[Page 27813]]
Proclamation 7097 of May 15, 1998
World Trade Week, 1998
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The American economy is experiencing its longest period
of sustained growth in more than a generation, with
more than 15 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment
rate since 1970, and the lowest inflation rate in more
than 30 years. Much of this economic expansion can be
attributed to our overseas trade. Today, America is the
world's leading exporter. Our exports sustain 12
million jobs--jobs that on average, pay more than jobs
not tied to exports. The extraordinary vigor of
America's economy reflects the 1998 theme of World
Trade Week: ``Exporting Pays Off.''
Our unparalleled capacity to develop and market high-
technology products and processes has given us a strong
competitive edge in the international marketplace in
everything from aerospace to agriculture. Americans
have led the world into the Information Age, and we are
poised to lead it into an exciting new era of
electronic commerce. Also central to our success in the
global economy has been our ability to open foreign
markets for American goods and services. During the
past 5 years, my Administration has negotiated more
than 240 new trade agreements and strengthened efforts
to eliminate unfair trading practices in order to help
American workers and businesses compete in an
international arena that is open and fair and where
trade rules are enforced.
To keep America growing, and to maintain our leadership
in the global economy, we must expand our exports. We
must sustain our advantage in information and other
technologies by creating a business climate that
encourages investment, by continuing our support of
education and research in basic science and technology,
and by ensuring that American workers are the best-
educated and best-trained work force in the world. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that we will need
more than a million new high-skilled workers during the
next 10 years to power the information technology
field. We must provide working Americans with the
skills and training they need to seize these promising
employment opportunities.
Our exports and our economic strength depend upon our
access to an open, stable, and growing world market.
The nations of the world are becoming increasingly
intertwined in a global economy. We must continue our
efforts to remove foreign barriers to American goods
and services, to open new markets, and to keep them
open. This week, I will travel to Geneva, Switzerland
and address the World Trade Organization to underline
just how important free and open trade is to our future
prosperity. Fast-track trade authority has been a
crucial tool in this endeavor in the past, and it will
become increasingly important to our ability to compete
in the future with other countries for new markets, new
contracts, and new jobs. This traditional trading
authority will empower us to negotiate pro-growth, pro-
American trade agreements that will maintain the
momentum of our economy and ensure that American
workers and American businesses can compete on a level
playing field with the rest of the world.
[[Page 27814]]
America's leadership in building an open, fair world
trade system is paying off in rewards for
entrepreneurial initiative, higher wages for working
Americans, incentives for technological advances and
artistic creation, and prosperity for our Nation. By
embracing the challenges of competing in the global
marketplace in the 21st century, we can ensure
continued growth for American businesses, prosperity
for working Americans, and a brighter future for us
all.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim May 17 through May 23, 1998,
as World Trade Week. I invite the people of the United
States to observe this week with ceremonies,
activities, and programs that celebrate the potential
of international trade.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-second.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 98-13708
Filed 5-19-98; 10:30 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P