[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[July 9, 1993]
[Pages 1035-1037]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1035]]


The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Kim Campbell of 
Canada in Tokyo
July 9, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon. I have just spent a very rewarding 
hour and a half with Prime Minister Campbell and members of her 
government. After a very impressive career in other posts in government 
and a very rapid rise to the leadership of her country, I must say I 
have been very impressed with the contributions that she has made to 
this summit and with the conversations that we have had all along, but 
especially today.
    The relationship that we have with Canada is really unique in all 
the world. It is our largest trading relationship. We are each other's 
largest trading partners. And even though we have disputes from time to 
time, when you consider the volume and diversity of trade between us, 
those disputes are remarkably few and narrow in scope.
    Canada has been a very strong security partner of the United States. 
And while we share a lot in common, we also are very different and 
distinctive countries, and I think we have a lot to learn from one 
another.
    I might just mention with regard to two specific issues that we 
discussed, first, I reaffirmed to the Prime Minister my commitment to 
successfully concluding the side agreements to the North American Free 
Trade Agreement and to then moving forward to successful passage of that 
agreement in the United States Congress. As you know, it has passed the 
Canadian Parliament pending its ratification by Congress. And secondly, 
I asked the Prime Minister for her support in our attempts to fulfill 
the agreement signed just a few days ago by President Aristide and 
General Cedras to restore democracy in Haiti. Canada has been one of the 
United States' best friends on the Haitian issue, with a substantial 
Haitian population and a lot of French-speaking people who can make a 
unique contribution to this restoration process. So for both those 
things, I am grateful for our common positions, and I appreciate her 
support.
    I think I'll turn the microphone over to Prime Minister Campbell 
now, and then we'll be glad to answer some questions.
    Prime Minister Campbell. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
    I'd simply like to reiterate that we had a very fruitful discussion, 
and I think as two novices in the summit process, we both enjoyed 
participating very much. I'd like to thank the President for responding 
very quickly to a request that we have made, and that is that he 
designate someone in the White House to be a point of contact for us in 
managing a variety of issues that arise between our two countries, and 
particularly some trade dispute issues. And the President has agreed to 
do that, and we're looking forward to having that person designated.
    I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the President 
and his Government on the resolution of the situation in Haiti. I think 
without the United States' involvement, we would not have that kind of 
happy resolution. And I confirm Canada's willingness and commitment to 
be supportive to the followup process in Haiti.

Economic Summit and Japan-U.S. Trade

    Q. Mr. President, how important is it for you and Prime Minister 
Miyazawa to wrap up this summit with a bilateral U.S.-Japanese trade 
agreement? Will the summit be detracted if you fail to achieve this 
agreement, given the fact that when you met in April, both of you 
indicated that you would achieve this agreement by now?
    The President. No, it will not, because I think everybody concedes 
that the summit has far exceeded expectations for it before we began, 
for two reasons: first of all, the market access agreement on 
manufactured goods, which is the biggest tariff reduction agreement 
among nations in 7 years--the jobs, the implications of that are 
staggering if we can, in fact, conclude the trade agreement by the end 
of the year; and secondly, because of the size and scope of the aid 
package to Russia which is very much, as I have said repeatedly, in the 
interest of the United States and every other democracy in the world--
continuing to denuclearize Russia, continuing to develop a free market 
economy that can interact with the rest of us. So this has been an 
extremely successful summit.
    We should be driven in our negotiations with

[[Page 1036]]

Japan by one simple question: Is this a good agreement or not? Will it 
advance our common interests in reducing the imbalances in our 
relationship? And if the answer is yes, we should go forward; and if 
it's not, we shouldn't. And that's what we're going to do. I don't think 
it has anything to do with the way the summit comes out. It's been a 
huge net plus.
    Q. Mr. President, there seems to be a new optimism today about 
seeing such an agreement, and are you willing to compromise on the 
numerical targets or the basic issues enough to bring about an 
agreement?
    The President. Well, I hope there will be an agreement, and I hope I 
can answer yes to the question that I just posed. I don't think I should 
say much more about it now. They're talking----
    Q. But there is a new optimism?
    The President. I don't want to characterize it. I think anything I 
say to characterize it, up or down, may be wrong. We just have to wait 
and see what happens.
    Q. Mr. President, the economic declaration that you just approved 
today said that in the future the summits should be more informal, and 
they should have fewer documents and declarations. And given that this 
one was a lot less specific in terms of the commitments to growth and 
stimulus than you had originally wanted, have you given any thought to 
doing away with this declaration in the future? Did this have any 
purpose at all?
    The President. No, I like this political declaration. Actually, I 
think both the declarations that we issued here are briefer than they 
have been in the past, and they're quite specific and, I think, quite 
good. But we tried very hard not to make them unrealistic, that is, not 
to have the nations commit to things they had no intention of doing or, 
perhaps more to the point, no capacity to do.
    So I feel pretty good about that. I think what the people who've 
been here for many years said was that they liked the fact that we were 
moving back toward a more informal summit process where we focused on 
one or two big issues, where we tried to get one or two things done, and 
we didn't overly bureaucratize it. And I think our commitment was to go 
to Italy next year with smaller operations, more streamlined, even less 
bureaucracy but focusing on intense, very honest and open interchanges 
among the leaders, and then try to get one or two specific things done.
    Anyone from the Canadian press?

Canada-U.S. Trade and Strike on Iraq

    Q. For your benefit, Mr. President, I'll put my question in English. 
I would like to know, Mrs. Campbell, in what terms you did talk to the 
President about trade disputes between Canada and the United States. And 
I'd like to know as well if you asked him that the next time the United 
States launches an attack somewhere, if Canada would like to be informed 
before the event instead of after?
    Prime Minister Campbell. Well, in answer to your second question, 
the answer is yes.
     In answer to the first question, I raised a number of the issues 
that are outstanding between us. Now, obviously we weren't in a position 
to resolve them here. A number of my provincial colleagues also raised 
concerns, and so I discussed the irritants that are between us, 
particularly wheat, sugar, softwood lumber. And I'm very pleased that we 
will be pursuing those, but more importantly, that we now will have 
someone in the White House who will be designated as someone that we can 
be in touch with to help manage those particular irritants between us.
    The President. Let me answer--if I might answer that question. The 
Prime Minister mentioned wheat, sugar, lumber, and beer. We talked about 
those issues. She also brought to my attention, frankly, something that 
I have to admit I think she's absolutely right on, that Canada should 
have been notified at the time we took the action in Iraq. Let me tell 
you, there was a very tight time window there because of the coincidence 
of the time when I received the final report from my intelligence and 
investigative agencies and when the trial started again and getting past 
the Sabbath in the Islamic countries, the day of worship. That's 
something that we should have done then and that we will do in the 
future. Canada has been a good strategic ally of the United States. It's 
absolutely pivotal in any number of ways. And it was a very legitimate 
issue to raise.
    Another question from the Canadian press?

Trade With Japan

    Q. Prime Minister, President Clinton has been pressed from the 
Japanese to reduce their trade deficit. Are you not afraid that such 
pressure might result in Japanese investment in Can-


[[Page 1037]]

ada being reduced and siphoned off to the United States?
    Prime Minister Campbell. Well, there is already a competitive 
environment for investment. I think the challenge for us is to be an 
attractive investment environment. And right now there are no 
guarantees. So I don't see that that's necessarily going to result in 
the future. I think what the Americans are most concerned about is not 
simply the flow of investment from Japan to North America but the 
opening of the Japanese market to goods that are made in North America. 
And I think that's the significant part of that, of the concern that the 
United States has raised with Japan. So the short answer to your 
question is no, I don't see that as a problem in either the short or 
medium term.
    The President. If anything, it might increase Japanese investment in 
both the United States and Canada so that market share could be 
maintained while abating the trade deficit. So I wouldn't worry about 
that at all. I think if anything happens on the investment side, it will 
encourage more investment in our continent.
    Q. Prime Minister, do you support numerical trade targets with Japan 
the way the United States is seeking at the moment?
    Prime Minister Campbell. Well, I think it's up to the United States 
and Japan to find the mechanism that will work best to meet their goals. 
I made the point both to the President and to the Prime Minister of 
Japan that it is in Canada's interest that they resolve those problems 
because when the United States and Japan have a trade dispute, it is 
very often Canada that gets sideswiped by the remedies.
    So it is very much in Canada's strategic interests that those issues 
be resolved. As to which mechanism is used, I think that's up to the 
United States and Japan to determine. But we very much support the 
resolution of that dispute.
    The President. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President's 21st news conference began at 2:23 p.m. at the 
U.S. Ambassador's residence. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. Raoul 
Cedras, commander of the Haitian military.