    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [October 16, 1993]
    [Pages 1759-1760]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 16, 1993

        Good morning. I want to talk with you today about our prosperity and
    our strength now and in the years to come. From the beginning of our
    administration I promised bold action with a plan for economic growth.
    We moved to put our fiscal house in order, to bring the deficit down, to
    spur business investment, and start investing in our own people again.
    Our plan passed the Congress, and now good things are beginning to
    happen.
        We still have a long way to go, but there's clearly been real
    progress. Long-term interest rates are at historic lows. That means more
    businesses investing in jobs and economic growth. Home mortgages are at
    a 25-year low. That's put more money in the pockets of millions of
    Americans who are now buying or refinancing their homes.
        During the first 8 months of this administration our American
    economy has created 1.1 million private sector jobs, more than had been
    generated in the previous 4 years. Our people have been waiting for a
    long time for a strong recovery. We've made progress, but we know there
    are other things we've got to do if we're going to put America at full
    strength for the long term. For one thing, we've got to have someone to
    buy our products and our services. To do that, we've got to look beyond
    our borders, to jolt our export markets so they will grow and create
    jobs here at home.
        All wealthy nations are finding today that they can't create jobs
    without expanding trade. It's not just the United States, the same thing
    is true in Germany and the rest of Europe and in Japan. I know we can do
    it because, just as with the rest of the progress we've made so far,
    we've got a plan to increase exports. Already we've lowered cold war
    trade barriers, $37 billion worth of high-tech equipment which we can
    now sell in the export markets. We're working with Japan and with the
    entire international trading system to open up new markets for our
    manufactured products. And we've got a very important part of that plan
    right here in our area, called the North American Free

    [[Page 1760]]

    Trade Agreement. Perhaps you've heard it called NAFTA. The bottom line
    is this: NAFTA will help create export relationships that will produce
    jobs, 200,000 of them by 1995, and will continue to create jobs in the
    future. It will help our economy to grow.
        Everywhere on Earth, more exports mean more jobs. And these jobs on
    average pay better, 17 percent better than jobs that don't have anything
    to do with exports. Critics may say what they will, but they can't
    dispute the facts. We are competing in an era of almost unimaginable
    economic change, where investment and information can cross the globe in
    the flicker of a computer screen. It's a new world. But on the trade
    front, America has too often been playing by old rules.
        Our chief rivals in the global marketplace have been adapting.
    Europe has been developing its own trading bloc. Japan has cornered much
    of Asia. And now with NAFTA, we can adapt by using our friends and
    neighbors, first in Canada and Mexico and eventually in the rest of
    Latin America.
        With NAFTA, our products will have easier access to Canada and the
    second fastest growing market in the entire world, Latin America.
    Without NAFTA, one of our best markets, Mexico, could turn to Japan and
    Europe to make a sweetheart deal for trade. With NAFTA, we'll be
    creating the biggest trading bloc in the world right at our doorstep and
    led by the United States. Without NAFTA, Mexico could well become an
    export platform allowing more products from Japan and Europe into
    America.
        Why would we want that to happen? It's no accident that NAFTA is
    supported by every living former President, almost every serving
    Governor, and leaders of both parties. And yet, I know many Americans
    are worried about the agreement. They've been told that companies will
    head South once the ink is dry because wages are lower and environmental
    investments are cheaper in Mexico. But all the wishing in the world
    won't stop those companies from leaving today. Today companies can go to
    Mexico and produce for the American market with low tariffs if they want
    to. But NAFTA will require Mexico to enforce its own environmental laws
    and labor standards, to raise the cost of production in Mexico by
    raising wages and raising environmental investments. That will make it
    less likely, not more likely, that a company will cross the Rio Grande
    River to take advantage of lower wages or lax pollution laws.
        I say again, under NAFTA more jobs will stay at home here in America
    and more American exports will head to Mexico. NAFTA means exports, and
    exports mean jobs. I believe with all my heart the fear stirred up over
    NAFTA flows from the pounding the middle class took over the past decade
    and a half, not from NAFTA itself. But I have to tell you, as your
    President, I could not be for this trade agreement unless I believed
    strongly that we needed to ensure the economic security of our hard-
    working middle class families.
        That's why I'm fighting in Congress to pass NAFTA when it votes on
    it next month. I hope you'll tell your Representatives that you want it
    to pass, too. If you want to create more American jobs, if you want to
    lower the differences in cost of production in America and Mexico, if
    you want to take down barriers in Mexico to exports, then you should
    want NAFTA.
        And let me say again, America right now has a trade surplus with
    Mexico. Mexicans, even though their incomes are lower than Americans,
    are the second largest purchaser of American products per person, second
    only to Canada. This means greater opportunities for our people and more
    jobs. I hope that you will support it.
        Before I close, I want to say a word about our brave helicopter
    pilot who was held and then released in Somalia. Tonight Michael Durant
    is on his way home. We are thankful beyond words that Chief Warrant
    Officer Durant will be reunited with his family and that he will recover
    from his wounds. At the same time, our hearts and the hearts of all
    Americans go out to the 18 families who are grieving tonight for their
    loved ones who were lost in Somalia and to nearly 100 others who were
    wounded. They and their comrades are in our prayers.
        God bless you all, and thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.