    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [April 7, 1991]
    [Pages 342-345]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 342]]

    The President's News Conference With President Carlos Salinas de Gortari
    of Mexico in Houston, Texas
    April 7, 1991

        President Bush. Well, as always, it is a great pleasure to meet with
    my good friend President Carlos Salinas. He's en route to Canada for a
    state visit. But this refueling stop has given us a chance to discuss
    very important issues of mutual concern and interest.
        The United States has embarked on an historic task with Mexico and
    Canada: the creation of a trilateral free-trade agreement which would
    establish the largest free-trade area in the world. It would involve
    some 360 million people and a total of $6 trillion in combined annual
    output. President Salinas and I are certain that this FTA, this trade
    agreement, will create jobs and provide opportunities for the citizens
    of both our countries.
        To move forward, we need the United States Congress to extend the
    Fast Track authority. That authority allows the President to assure our
    negotiating partners that the free-trade agreement which we conclude at
    the negotiating table will be the one that will be voted on by the
    Congress. The Congress has a say. They can vote yes, or they can vote
    no. But we need to negotiate in a way so that the people with whom we're
    negotiating know that that is not going to be amended and changed.
        I told President Salinas that I am absolutely committed personally,
    that our administration is committed totally to the free-trade agreement
    with Mexico and Canada. And I also told him that I am going to work
    tirelessly to assure favorable action by Congress on Fast Track
    authority.
        The credibility of the United States as a trading partner is on the
    line here. And I am doing this because I believe it firmly that it is in
    the best interest of the United States of America. I also believe it's
    in Mexico's interest. But I am convinced that it is best for America.
        President Salinas and I have agreed to take a few questions, but I'd
    now turn the floor over to him.
        Once again, sir, welcome.
        President Salinas. Thank you very much for the hospitality extended
    to us, Mr. President. I would like to say that the bilateral agenda is
    quite wide, and we took up diverse topics.
        One of these issues, no doubt, was a free-trade agreement. We
    ratified our firm decision to forge ahead and come afloat with a treaty.
    The area that would then be created would be the major mover in order to
    promote the economies of the whole continent, and at the same time, it
    would be an extraordinary means in order to increase and raise our
    competitiveness to reach levels of the Pacific Basin and Europe.
        But this will not be easy. It is a battle between visionary men and
    women living in sovereign nations with protectionist interests or
    visionary views.
        We reach the conclusion that studies tend to confirm that the
    benefits that will be derived and that will stem from the free-trade
    agreement broadly go beyond the disadvantages that one could have. For
    example, in the United States, thanks to freer trade activities with
    Mexico, in the last 3 years exports have increased to my country, to
    Mexico. In the United States, additional jobs have been created of over
    one-fourth of a million jobs.
        Mexico is already growing and developing with stability, and that
    will now lead to having to export goods from Mexico, not people. That
    will prevent thousands and millions of Mexicans from having to come to
    the United States looking for a job. Our objective is to have economic
    recovery with employment that will not harm the environment and with an
    increase, a raise, in real salaries.
        And I would simply like to conclude by saying that the good climate
    that we found in Houston 2\1/2\ years ago has now been confirmed here
    today.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir.
        Marlin, now what is the time schedule? Because I know we want to
    take some questions.

    [[Page 343]]

        Mr. Fitzwater. Just time for a few questions, and they do have to--
    rather quickly.
        President Bush. And what we thought we'd do is alternate, one for
    me, one for President Salinas. And then we'll try to be fair in the
    distribution between the visitors from Mexico whom I welcome and the
    U.S. press corps.
        Yes, sir, in the back.

    Latin America-U.S. Relations

    [At this point, a question was asked in Spanish, and a translation was
    not provided.]

        President Bush. No, that is not so. We are not distracted by Eastern
    Europe and the Gulf. We had a mission in the Gulf. We have completed
    that mission. I'm going to bring our troops home. But I hope we have not
    given the impression that we've lost interest in our own hemisphere.
        Indeed, the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, the Brady plan,
    the commitment that I am reaffirming here today for this trade agreement
    with Mexico, my own visit to Monterrey--all of these things, I think, I
    hope, sent the message to our friends south of the Rio Grande, and not
    just Mexico but on south, that we are committed to being a good
    neighbor. And so, I hope I'll have more chance to demonstrate that now
    that the war is over.

    Mexican Environmental Concerns

        Q. President Salinas, the head of Sierra Club told a congressional
    committee last month that in the area where free-trade zones were
    established, generally, the new development is in an environmental
    disaster area. There was great concern that a free-trade agreement will
    worsen the environment and perhaps dilute the gains made by the Clean
    Air Act in this country. What is your response?
        President Salinas. We are committed with a clean environment. We
    don't want our children to paint the sky gray without any stars because
    they cannot see the stars. That is why any new jobs, any new employment
    that has been created in Mexico will have to abide by very stringent
    laws for the protection of the environment. Not only firm and stringent
    laws but firm and stringent enforcement of these laws. We have much to
    do still, very little time for having started with this, but that is our
    commitment.
        President Bush. We'll take one for me--let's see--for President
    Salinas on the Mexican journalist side. Then I'll go for one for me on
    the American side. Oops, wrong guy. Well, you're going to miss my
    instructions. Go ahead, though. [Laughter]

    Free-Trade Agreement

    [At this point, a question was asked in Spanish, and a translation was
    not provided.]

        President Bush. I've heard people say that the arguments are not
    convincing. I disagree with them. So, it is my mission now to lead our
    whole administration and those in the Congress who are now strongly in
    support of the free-trade agreement--and that includes, I might add,
    some of the key Democrat leaders in the Congress who are supporting us--
    it is now our mission, collective mission, to make this clear to the
    rest of the country and thus to the United States Congress that it is in
    our interest. The arguments are good. We are going to increase jobs in
    this country. We are going to have fewer border difficulties, which we
    all know exist, once we get this agreement through.
        But we have some tough opponents in this country. Some elements in
    organized labor are fighting it, and they are wrong. And I'm going to
    take them on head-on-head because I know that this is in the best
    interest of our country.
        So, we've got a big selling job to do, but we're not alone in this
    fight. We've got the facts on our side and we also have some of the key
    Democratic leaders in the United States Congress who are highly
    respected and who will join in this because they know that expanded
    trade is good for both sides.
        But I want to use this answer here just to once again reiterate my
    strong personal commitment. And I hope that will help. And we will be
    enlisting all the help we can get in the Congress because we're in for a
    battle. We're not under any allusion about that.
        Now, for President Salinas. Do you want one from the American side
    for me?

    [[Page 344]]

    Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, yesterday you seemed hopeful that Iraq's tentative
    acceptance of the U.N. conditions for a cease-fire would finally mean an
    end to the war for U.S. troops. But there don't appear to be any
    guarantees that's going to be the case for the Iraqi people. Is there
    any effort by the United States to use the U.N. mandate to restore order
    in Iraq, or are you, in a sense, being forced to tolerate a declared
    peace in the midst of chaos and even civil war there?
        President Bush. Well, I think you've seen the U.N. be very effective
    by having its rather stern but proper resolutions adopted. And I think
    the main thing is to get them put into effect, and I hope that that then
    will have a calming effect inside of Iraq itself. But I've made clear my
    position. I stated it from the very beginning. We have not expanded our
    objectives. We are not going to expand the use of U.S. forces; indeed, I
    want them to come out, and they will be coming out as soon as possible.
        But the U.N. can very well have the kind of additional role that
    your question asks about. And we will be in consultation with others at
    the United Nations to see whether the U.N. can again, once again,
    enhance its peacekeeping function, a function that only recently has
    come to be affecting events in a beneficial way. Only recently has the
    peacekeeping function come forward as something that has some teeth in
    it. And we saw that through the Gulf.
        Now, I would like to see that peacekeeping function activated again
    to help on this matter. You have some interesting debate at the U.N.,
    however, in terms of the internal affairs of a country. But when you
    have a refugee problem of this enormous consequence, then that comes
    under the heading of United Nations business. So, through that, perhaps,
    we can try to enhance the peace, bring peace back to this troubled land.
        But I want to make clear one more time: There was never any
    indication on the part of this administration or this President that we
    were going to expand our objectives to put troops or use force in Iraq.
    We've fulfilled our objectives, and now what we've got to do is fulfill
    our concerns about the innocents that are suffering--the Kurds and the
    Shiites in the south and those in Baghdad themselves--by doing what the
    United States has always done, trying to be a catalyst for healing the
    wounds. And there are a lot of wounds, a lot of people hurting.
        Our airlifts started. I was just telling the President I was very
    pleased, we've already dropped 72,000 pounds of MRE's, this food and
    water, to stranded refugees. So, I think world opinion also, Norm
    [Norman Sandler, United Press International], on this one can help. I
    think people are so outraged that there may be ways we can bring
    pressure through the U.N. or elsewhere on this regime inside Iraq.
        Q. When you talk about an additional role, is that a role for the
    U.N. as policemen, essentially, internally in Iraq?
        President Bush. No, I don't think you're going to see that. I don't
    think the United Nations will take such action. But I think there's a
    way that we can be helpful in the ways I've talked about. But I don't
    think you're going to see a police role in downtown Baghdad. I am
    pleased that the international force, the Blue Helmet, the United
    Nations international force, will be in place soon.
        And I will use this opportunity to say to the American people, those
    young men and women of ours that are in southern Iraq are coming out
    just as soon as possible. And we're talking about days, not weeks or
    months, in terms of my fulfilling that commitment to the American
    people.

    Free-Trade Agreement

        Q. This is a question on trade for President Salinas. Perhaps Mexico
    now is one of the most open economies, much more so than the U.S.
    economy. You, President Salinas, have asked in various fora for
    reciprocity, reciprocal actions for this opening that Mexico is
    undertaking. Irrespective of it, or while we wait for the negotiation to
    take place, is there any commitment on the part of the U.S. in order to
    pay back or to match that opening that Mexico is undertaking?
        President Salinas. This is more a question for President Bush than
    for me. [Laughter]
        President Bush. He asked you. [Laughter] Thank heavens!
        President Salinas. But I would say that

    [[Page 345]]

    the objective in negotiating this free-trade agreement is reciprocity to
    a unilateral attitude. And more than having an addition or a subtraction
    of arithmetic operations, it is more a matter of taking up a vision, a
    view, in the medium term and in the long term. What is truly at stake is
    that a decision is being made as to what will happen with North America
    by the end of this century or beginning of the coming century.
        We have to be competitive, vis-a-vis Europe and the Pacific Basin.
    And the only way of being it is by being together. And otherwise, it is
    not a matter of losing jobs for Mexico but spending the rest of your
    life buying Japanese or European products. So, as you can see, this is
    an exceptional, historic opportunity, and it will be very difficult for
    it to be repeated.
        President Bush. Marlin, did you say one more?
        One more. Charles [Charles Bierbauer, Cable News Network]?

    Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, you've repeatedly said that you have not
    encouraged the Kurds and the Shiites to rise up with the expectation
    that the U.S. would be in there fighting with them. And yet the Kurdish
    representatives this morning on one of the talk shows are saying that
    that's clearly the impression they got from listening to the Voice of
    Free Iraq, which they understood to be supported by the U.S. Would you
    clarify just what the role the U.S. played in running that radio
    station?
        President Bush. No, I don't have the details on it. But I will
    reassert, I never in any way implied that the United States was going to
    use force beyond the mandate of the United Nations.
        Thank you all very----
        Q. Well, is that because that station could be an embarrassment to
    you, sir?
        President Bush. No, I just don't know the details of it. I just
    don't know the details of it. And if it had anything----
        Q. Were they naive?
        President Bush. Well, I mean, you call it whatever you want. They
    were not misled by the United States of America. And that is now I think
    very, very clear. I went back and reviewed every statement I made about
    this, every single one. And there was never any implication that the
    United States would use force to go beyond the objectives which we so
    beautifully have achieved. None. And I hope that helps clarify it.
        Thank you all very much.

                        Note: President Bush's 79th news conference began at
                            11:51 a.m. in the Briefing Room at Ellington
                            Field. President Salinas spoke in Spanish, and
                            his remarks were translated by an interpreter.
                            Marlin Fitzwater was Press Secretary to
                            President Bush.