    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 15, 1993]
    [Pages 1496-1500]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session on the North American Free
    Trade Agreement in New Orleans, Louisiana
    September 15, 1993

        The President. Thank you. I'm glad you didn't let a little rain and
    a change of venue dampen your spirits. You may all still be excited
    after the Saints game last week. But I'm glad to be here.
        I want to thank Mr. Brinson and Senator Breaux and Congressman
    Jefferson for what they have said. I'm glad to be here again with your
    Governor, your Lieutenant Governor, your State treasurer, and others,
    and Mayor Barthelemy. And I want to thank the Members of Congress who
    came here from other States, took time out of their busy schedules in
    Washington just to travel down to express their support on a bipartisan
    basis and from States all across this country for the North American
    Free Trade Agreement.
        It really is, I think, not only a job winner

    [[Page 1497]]

    for the United States but the opportunity for us to get off the
    defensive in our economic policies and go on offense and try to build a
    world in which there are more opportunities for Americans not only for
    good jobs but for growing incomes.
        For 20 years we have been buffeted by the fortunes of global
    competition and mechanization and all the things that you know about,
    and more and more working people have been pressured in their daily
    lives, finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. It is obvious
    that what we have been doing has not worked very well. We know what
    makes more jobs in a wealthy country: Expanding trade makes more jobs;
    educating your people better makes more jobs; providing more investment
    makes more jobs. These are the things that I am committed to.
        There have been a lot of things said about the North American Free
    Trade Agreement. We came down here to New Orleans today to listen to
    people who know how the trade with Mexico works and who will be affected
    by it, talk about it. But I want to just say one or two general things
    to all of you today.
        Three decades ago this port was dedicated by President Kennedy, a
    person who had a vision of America that knew no limits, who believed
    that we ought to face our challenges, that we ought to look outward to
    the world, that we shouldn't hunker down, that we could compete and win
    with any people anywhere on Earth. It is time that we reestablish that
    belief, that conviction, that commitment.
        Today we come to New Orleans because I believe you face the rest of
    the world with confidence. We heard Senator Breaux and Congressman
    Jefferson talk about the Port of New Orleans. We heard Mr. Brinson say
    it's the most important thing in strategic planning for the future of
    this port to pass this new trade agreement with Mexico.
        Well, yesterday I signed a couple of side agreements that strengthen
    that, agreements that do the following things: number one, that commit
    the Government of Mexico, as well as the Government of the United States
    to invest more money in environmental cleanup. Now, that means two
    things: number one, more opportunities for American companies who do
    that kind of work. Number two, it means that there will be less
    difference in the cost of production on either side of the border
    because of different environmental regulations.
        The second agreement commits the Mexican Government to enforce its
    own labor laws. And you should know what that really means. It means
    that for the first time in history a government has committed itself to
    raise the minimum wage as its economy grows, thereby raising the wage
    structure throughout the country, because the President of Mexico has
    made a personal commitment to me, to the United States, and to this
    process that Mexico from now on will raise its minimum wage every time
    its economy grows on a regular basis, which means that more rapidly than
    before and much more rapidly than if we don't pass this trade agreement,
    the wage gap between their workers and ours will close, and there will
    be less incentive to move our plants to Mexico but more ability by the
    Mexicans to buy American products that we ship from places like the Port
    of New Orleans.
        Why do I believe this will work? Well, for a couple of reasons.
    First of all, because in the last few years Mexico has begun to lower
    its tariffs and open their markets to more American products. You know
    that because you've been shipping more out of here. In 1986--these boxes
    basically represent where we are--but in 1986 our exports to Mexico were
    a little over $12 billion, represented by this first crate here. At that
    time we had about a $5.7 billion trade deficit with Mexico. Because
    they've lowered tariffs, already we've got a $5.6 billion trade surplus
    with them now. And we estimate that by 1995, just a couple of years
    after the pact goes into effect, we'll have about $60 billion in trade
    with Mexico, represented by this big crate. You don't have to be
    Einstein to figure out if you're an American it's better to have four
    crates than one. That's what this is all about.
        Let me just say a couple of other things. It's not just Mexico,
    especially for the Port of New Orleans. If we can make this trade pact
    work, and we will, because keep in mind--I want to make one other point
    to all those people that say this is a job-loser--that tariffs in
    Mexico, in spite of our trade surplus, are still 4 times as high as the
    tariffs in America against Mexican products. The average Mexican spends
    $450 a year buying American products, more than anybody in the world
    except the Canadians, more than the Japanese, more than the Germans,
    more than a lot of countries where the people are much wealthier. This
    will work be-

    [[Page 1498]]

    cause their tariffs are still higher than ours. If you lower the tariffs
    down to where they're as low as ours and then we eventually eliminate
    them, again it just stands to reason that we're going to have more sales
    and more products and more opportunities.
        What I want to say to you finally is that this is the beginning of
    this process, because I can tell you that I have heard from the leaders
    of countries all over Latin America. They are looking at the Congress;
    they are looking about whether we're going to adopt this trade
    agreement. And if we do, then Chile, then Venezuela, then Argentina,
    then many other countries that are becoming more democratic and more
    free-market, free-enterprise oriented are going to want to have more
    trade with the United States and have more of our products. And that
    means still more, more trade going out of the Port of New Orleans
    because there are hundreds of millions of people in Latin America
    committed to democracy now, committed to free markets, and hungering for
    the benefits of a free economy. We can help them to get it and put the
    American people to work as well. And we know that trade-related jobs
    pay, on the average, higher wages than jobs not related to trade. So I
    ask all of you to support this. Now, let me just say that--thanks.
    [Applause]
        There was a time when all the working people in America were for
    more trade, when people realized that if you didn't expand trade you
    couldn't keep expanding jobs. I want to say as a word of respect and
    partial regret, as we're here, there's a funeral going on in New Orleans
    for a labor leader named Lindsey Williams who helped to build this port.
    And Lindy Boggs, your former Congresswoman, wrote me a note about it,
    because I think she is there today. But she was reminding me in this
    note about how New Orleans had always been a place that pushed for more
    trade and a place where labor and management and Republicans and
    Democrats, African-Americans and whites and Hispanics and everybody got
    together because they looked outward to the world.
        I'm telling you, folks, we cannot afford to look inward. We cannot
    repeal the force that is driving the world economy together. We can run
    away from it and get beat by it, or we can embrace it, do what we have
    to do, and win with it to create more jobs, more incomes, and more
    opportunity. That's what I think we want to do.
        And as I sit down, I want to thank these men and women who are
    behind us. They work for and run companies that benefit from trade with
    Mexico today and who would flourish even more if we pass NAFTA. They
    ship their products through this port every day. And I thank them for
    coming here. They're not professional politicians or seasoned speakers,
    but they're the people that really count. They're the people that really
    count. They're the people who represent the future of this economy. And
    all the people who are arguing around this thing in politics, a lot of
    them won't be affected one way or the other. You need to assess who is
    going to be affected. Are they going to win or lose? The answer is this
    is a good deal. It's a winner. We ought to take it. And these folks are
    about to tell us why.
        Thank you very much.

    [At this point, a participant stated that NAFTA will create 15 to 20
    more jobs in a local rice mill.]

        The President. So you'll put together 15 or 20 more people, and the
    rice farmers in my home State of Arkansas will send you rice down here
    to go out of the Port of New Orleans. That's what you're saying, right?
        Q. Well, I'd like for it to be that way, but unfortunately, I'm sure
    your mills will benefit from it too in Arkansas.
        The President. Thank you. I appreciate that.
        Who's next?

    [An Amoco employee discussed the environmental benefits of exporting
    natural gas liquids to Mexico.]

        The President. I think we ought to talk about this a minute for
    people who don't know. One of the most closed aspects of the Mexican
    economy has been the whole energy sector. And the Mexicans, as you know,
    have their own oil company, and their own oil reserves, but they have
    flared off their natural gas. They never have saved it, distributed it.
    And as a consequence, they have a lot of problems, which you just
    mentioned, especially in Mexico City.
        It may well be that in the short run the fastest growing economic
    opportunities will be in the energy area, particularly if we can figure
    out a way to get large volumes of compressed natural gas down there and
    get it into the stream of usage, as well as the other petrochemical
    products. So I thank you for talking about that.

    [[Page 1499]]

    That's a huge issue and a big short-term winner for us.
        Who's next?
        Q. I am all for the idea of the NAFTA because it means more security
    for our jobs and our families.
        The President. What do you sell to Mexico?
        Q. Hot sauce, canned beans----
        The President. That's pretty good, they sell hot sauce to Mexico. I
    think we ought to clap for that, don't you? [Applause] Canned goods?
        Q. Canned beans.
        Q. We have five factories that produce processed food products in
    America, several of them in Louisiana and Texas. We're vitally
    interested in NAFTA because basically it opens the Mexican market to our
    company and our products. We have a processing plant in El Paso, Texas,
    that virtually has been unable to sell any of our manufactured food
    products into Mexico because of their closed-market situation, which
    began to change some 4 years ago under the Salinas government. What we
    need now is we need that to change and that opening to be completed
    under NAFTA so that the market will be totally open to us, and we will
    be able to compete on an even basis with the Mexican industry that we
    compete with.
        The President. Do you have any idea what it will do to your sales?
    Have you done any estimates on how much it will increase your markets?
        Q. Yes, we are talking millions of dollars of increased sales. And
    we're talking hundreds of jobs, possibly thousands in time to come. But
    Mexico has 80 million people, 80 million consumers who have a natural
    affinity to our products. And we think it's a great potential market for
    our products and will be enhanced greatly under NAFTA.
        The President. Good for you. So you don't have--I want to get this
    straight--you have plants near the Mexican border on the American side;
    you don't have any intention of moving them. And in fact, you know
    you're going to hire more people to work there if this trade agreement
    is passed.
        Q. That's exactly right.
        The President. Thank you very much.

    [A participant explained how NAFTA will benefit companies that are
    helping to alleviate environmental problems in Mexico.]

        The President. What do you produce?
        Q. We produce specialty polymers for water purification, wastewater
    treatment. We produce a lot of products and services to help our
    customers minimize pollution and to prevent pollution. And we produce
    superabsorbent polymers. We produce products that are used in the pulp
    and paper industry. All of these things would face a dramatic increase
    if the NAFTA agreement were ratified.
        The President. Have you done any estimates on how much your sales
    might increase if it passes?
        Q. I'm sure we do, but from the numbers I've seen, we know that for
    about every million dollars increase in sales resulting from NAFTA, that
    would generate about five additional jobs at NALCO, and most of those
    would be in manufacturing. And again, the Garyville plant here in
    Louisiana is our biggest plant, so it would have the most dramatic
    impact in that area.
        The President. Thank you. Go ahead.

    [A participant expressed support for NAFTA because the reduction in
    tariffs would create more jobs.]

        The President. You know, I'm really glad that some of you are coming
    here who work for these companies, because we know that the only way a
    wealthy country like America can grow wealthier is if we have more
    customers, if we sell more. We know we can't just sell to each other. We
    have to open up our borders.
        And the point I want to make to the working people who are worried
    about whether they are against this or not is that anybody who wants to
    move a plant to Mexico because wages are lower or because the
    environmental standards are low can do that today. They can do it
    tomorrow. They can do it if NAFTA fails. And in fact, if the NAFTA
    agreement fails, it will be easier to move a plant to Mexico because
    wages will be lower down there and environmental standards will be
    laxer. But it will be harder for them to buy our products because they
    won't be making as much money and because we won't be able to send as
    many products in there.
        So I appreciate all of you being here, especially because in the end
    what my job is, is to find ways in a very tough world economy, where
    Europe's economy is not growing, where Japan's economy is not growing, I
    have to find ways to try to help our economy grow to create more jobs
    and higher incomes. Mexico's econ-

    [[Page 1500]]

    omy is growing. Latin America is the second fastest growing part of the
    world, next to Asia. And so I really appreciate the working people
    coming here because, in the end, the reason we're doing this is to
    provide greater security to the working families of this country.
        I told the Members of Congress on the way down here, and I guess I
    ought to tell all of you, as many of you know I was the Governor of your
    neighboring State to the north for 12 years. I have known people whose
    plants shut down and moved to Mexico. I've seen that happen. Believe me,
    this agreement will not make that any easier. That's going to happen or
    not happen, regardless. This agreement will make it harder because it
    will change the economics in ways that benefit both sides of the border.
    If I didn't know that, I wouldn't be out here pushing for this
    agreement.
        So I thank all of you for coming here today.
        Ron, would you like to say something?

    [At this point, J. Ron Brinson, president and CEO, Board of
    Commissioners, Port Authority of New Orleans, stated that increased
    trade with Mexico would continue to produce jobs in Louisiana and that
    NAFTA might lead to a hemispheric trade agreement in the future. Gov.
    Edwin W. Edwards of Louisiana then endorsed NAFTA, stating that
    Louisiana industries would benefit from it.]

        The President. We are going to wrap up, but before we do, I would
    like to ask all of you to give all of these people who came up here and
    spoke a hand, because they are what this whole thing is about.
    [Applause]
        In the weeks and months ahead we are going to try to do a number of
    events like this to highlight the importance of NAFTA. But I'd like to
    ask all of you who are here from Louisiana to write to Members of
    Congress and your Senators and tell them that you support this, it means
    more jobs for your State, and you would appreciate their voting for it.
    They need to hear from you. The people who are afraid of this agreement
    are quite well organized. Some of them have a dollar or two, as you may
    know, and they need to hear from you. We just tried to give these folks
    a chance to make a direct plea today. I want everybody within the sound
    of my voice to also make your opinion known to your Representatives in
    Congress. It is up to them now.
        We need your help. It means more jobs for America. Thank you very
    much.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:03 p.m. at the Port of New Orleans. In
    his remarks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Melinda Schwegmann and State
    treasurer Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Mayor Sidney Barthelemy of New
    Orleans.