    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [May 1, 1991]
    [Pages 456-459]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a White House Briefing on Fast Track Authority Extension
    May 1, 1991

        The President. Thank you all very much. Please be seated. A thousand
    apologies for keeping you all waiting, but you had the most
    knowledgeable Fast Track authority in the country doing the heavy
    lifting here. Carla, thank you.
        But first, thank you all for coming here. I know I've talked to some
    of you in this

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    room about my favorite subject these days, but I want to just hit it
    again, and to those I haven't visited with, just urge you to help us if
    you possibly can. This Fast Track authority question is absolutely
    fundamental to our major foreign policy objectives.
        And we can't look at it narrowly. We've got to look at in terms of
    the big foreign policy picture. And I'm not talking just about the
    importance of getting an agreement with Europe; I'm talking about our
    friends to the south, about the potential that lies in a democratic
    South America. And I'm not talking there just Mexico and beyond.
        And so, we have here a subject I want to talk about in a little more
    detail, but I want to put it into that broad foreign policy context. It
    is in the vital national interest of the United States that we get this
    Fast Track authority, not just to hammer out a successful conclusion to
    the GATT round but to get this free trade agreement with Mexico, which
    will show that we are not discriminating by simply looking one
    direction, that we recognize the potential of our neighbors to the south
    who are our friends, and that we want to support the change that is so
    exciting that's taking place to our south.
        So, as you know, and maybe Carla--did you talk about the letters
    today? Well, I've sent up to the Congress our views on these
    opportunities that are offered. And maybe you've gotten the details of
    the response to Lloyd Bentsen, Dan Rostenkowski, and Dick Gephardt to
    very important letters that we got from them. And they have a
    constitutional responsibility. They are entitled to our full cooperation
    and consultation. And I think we've responded, thanks to Carla's
    leadership, in a very forthcoming way to understandable concerns.
        There were two points that our response to the Congress made crystal
    clear. One is that we've got to seize the opportunities that are
    afforded by this North American free trade agreement because it's in our
    interest--the point I made to you. And then the second one is that we
    are determined--and this is the one of vital importance to Members of
    Congress and to many in this room--that we're determined to work with
    Mexico to address the labor and environmental issues that are of common
    concern.
        We also, in these undertakings, make a commitment to negotiate an
    agreement with all the transition and adjustment provisions necessary to
    avoid disruptions at home. I would not be pressing this if I felt that
    this was going to be detrimental to the Americans that needs jobs, or
    Americans that have jobs. And our response also demonstrates how and why
    economic growth and enhanced cooperation between our governments--made
    possible by this North American free trade agreement--help dramatically
    improve labor conditions and also environmental protection.
        I'm sure it won't work the way our critics say. In other words, they
    say it's going to be bad for American jobs, more people thrown out of
    work. And they say, bad for the environment. And I don't agree with
    either of them. In fact, I think we've got very good answers on the
    opposite sides of those two allegations.
        The central issue in the Fast Track debate is whether we're going to
    remain a leader in opening markets and in expanding trade. Everyone in
    this room knows that exports are absolutely essential, that they're more
    vital than ever to our own economic growth. And, look, the stakes are
    high. Nobody's hiding that fact. There are high stakes in this. And with
    Fast Track we can complete that Uruguay round.
        We've gone through like a roller coaster--ups and downs--as Carla's
    tried to hammer out an agreement in the GATT that would be good for all
    of us. And it's been difficult. But I am convinced that we can complete
    that Uruguay round and also this North American free trade agreement--
    NAFTA--and lay the bases for our continued competitive success in world
    markets. And it will carry us well into the next century, in my view.
    And without Fast Track we're going to lose our ability to achieve these
    ambitious and important goals. I don't believe protection or isolation
    or quasi-isolation can do anything other than diminish the growth that
    is essential in this country, essential to the well-being of all
    American families.
        And I might say today, I was very pleased to see those interest
    rates come down a little, speaking of growth and getting this

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    economy going.
        In the response that Carla helped fashion and that we sent up today,
    I've given Congress a personal commitment to close the--to have the best
    possible cooperation--best possible cooperation and consultation in the
    NAFTA, in the Uruguay round, and beyond. And beyond, I'm talking about
    the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative.
        I'm giving my assurance that we take the time necessary to conclude
    agreements in which the Congress, the administration, the private
    sector, indeed, all Americans can take pride. There's a timeliness here
    in getting this Fast Track approved. But the very fact that we're
    rushing and trying and driving to get that done by dates certain does
    not mean that we have to rush in thereafter to some bad agreement. We're
    not going to do it. We could have made a bad agreement long ago.
        One night I asked the telephone operators here, I said, ``Would you
    please get Ambassador Hills?'' It was about 5 or 6 in the evening. But
    they're so efficient, you know. And the phone answered, ``Hellooo''--
    sound asleep. I'd gotten her--it's 3 in the morning in some foreign
    country--[laughter]--and back in those days, hammering out, hammering,
    working hard, trying to eliminate these difficulties. We could have had
    a bad agreement a long time ago. And she just kept saying no, and had
    this tough role of moving this thing forward correctly.
        So, don't confuse the speed and the urgency of getting this Fast
    Track authority with the fact that that would lead us to hastily make a
    bad deal. We're not going to do it. And Carla knows the Congress well,
    and I know the Congress well, and they are entitled to have us bring
    back an agreement that we can wholly, enthusiastically endorse. And
    that's exactly the kind of agreement that I believe we can get.
        So, again, I will end where I began: We need your help. And I am
    fully involved in this. Carla, obviously, is fully involved in it. Our
    whole Cabinet is energized. We're talking to as many groups as we can.
    I've been to Texas and to California to visit mainly with Mexican-
    Americans, but Hispanic groups. There's a lot at stake in this point.
    And it's something I feel strongly about in my heart. I don't want
    anybody to be able to allege that we're using different standards here
    in setting out agreements--one for the north, one for the south. We're
    not going to do that. We're not going to do it because it isn't right.
    And we're going to approach Mexico as the trusted friend and partner
    that they are. And if there's anybody that deserves this kind of
    consideration, it is President Salinas in Mexico, who has already made
    some dramatic changes in that society and in that economy and in his
    approach to the environment and in his support on the questions of law
    and order. And he is entitled to a fair shake on all of this, and I am
    determined that he get it. So, we're going to go forward as best we can.
        Did you tell them about Salinas' commitment to the environment?
        Ambassador Hills. Not your story----
        The President. Well, the story is really beautiful because what it
    is--and it really touched me as a grandfather of thousands. [Laughter]
    But I know some of you will be as moved by it as I was. I mean, this man
    is committed. He has shut down the largest polluting refinery in Mexico
    over the--and had to fight to do this, had to fight special interests to
    get this done. And he did it because of the commitment to the
    environment.
        But the story that he tells is about how the children in Mexico,
    particularly Mexico City, when they paint a picture of the sky at night,
    it's gray or black. And he said, ``I want these children to paint the
    sky with stars in it.'' And he is determined that they do, that you
    don't have a 6-year-old in the first grade who never sees the stars
    because of the environmental pollution. And it's a commitment. I mean,
    that's an emotional portrayal of his commitment that he has subsequently
    demonstrated in many, many ways.
        So, I've got to convince the Members of Congress on these questions
    of labor, questions of the environment. We've got to explain that
    Mexico's economic success--it isn't a threat to us, it's an opportunity.
    It's an enormous opportunity. I just got a question over there about
    the--questions on the border. I'm from Texas, and I know some of the
    border problems and I know, in the

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    past, how we kind of fenced with each other about these border problems
    that exist, whether it's people that come here illegally or whether it's
    the drug question.
        But I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that we're getting
    superb cooperation. That isn't to say we don't have a ways to go. But we
    want to work with these people in that way. They're our friends. They're
    our future, in a sense, because we have an enormous potential market
    there and on below. And we're committed to the democracy that is
    sweeping most of South America.
        So, I get very intense on this question because I really believe it
    is in our interest. And as people struggle to improve their societies,
    we ought to be in there helping. And it will help Mexico, but it will
    also help the United States.
        So, on these technical questions that are of understandable concern
    to the labor unions or to the environmentalists, we understand their
    concerns, and Carla has done a superb job of answering those concerns.
        Again, we need you. This is a team effort. It is not going to get
    done by the most able Trade Representative we have, by the President, by
    any individual member of the Cabinet. We've got to get this done by
    people like yourselves weighing in where you can with these Members of
    Congress. And I pledge to you that I will go the extra mile because I am
    absolutely certain it is in the best interest of this country we all
    love so much.
        Thank you very, very much.

                        Note: The President spoke at 2:49 p.m. in Room 450
                            of the Old Executive Office Building. In his
                            remarks, he referred to U.S. Trade
                            Representative Carla A. Hills, Senator Lloyd
                            Bentsen, Representatives Richard A. Gephardt and
                            Dan Rostenkowski, and President Carlos Salinas
                            de Gortari of Mexico.