    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [November 3, 1993]
    [Pages 1892-1893]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation To Implement
    the North American Free Trade Agreement
    November 3, 1993

    To the Congress of the United States:
        I am pleased to transmit today legislation to implement the North
    American Free Trade Agreement, an agreement vital to the national
    interest and to our ability to compete in the global economy. I also am
    transmitting a number of related documents required for the
    implementation of NAFTA.
        For decades, the United States has enjoyed a bipartisan consensus on
    behalf of a free and open trading system. Administrations of both
    parties have negotiated, and Congresses have approved, agreements that
    lower tariffs and expand opportunities for American workers and American
    firms to export their products overseas. The result has been bigger
    profits and more jobs here at home.
        Our commitment to more free and more fair world trade has encouraged
    democracy and human rights in nations that trade with us. With the end
    of the Cold War, and the growing significance of the global economy,
    trade agreements that lower barriers to American exports rise in
    importance.
        The North American Free Trade Agreement is the first trade expansion
    measure of this new era, and it is in the national interest that the
    Congress vote its approval.
        Not only will passage of NAFTA reduce tariff barriers to American
    goods, but it also will oper-

    [[Page 1893]]

    ate in an unprecedented manner--to improve environmental conditions on
    the shared border between the United States and Mexico, to raise the
    wages and living standards of Mexican workers, and to protect our
    workers from the effects of unexpected surges in Mexican imports into
    the United States.
        This pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-exports agreement--if adopted by the
    Congress--will vastly improve the status quo with regard to trade, the
    environment, labor rights, and the creation and protection of American
    jobs.
        Without NAFTA, American business will continue to face high tariff
    rates and restrictive nontariff barriers that inhibit their ability to
    export to Mexico. Without NAFTA, incentives will continue to encourage
    American firms to relocate their operations and take American jobs to
    Mexico. Without NAFTA, we face continued degradation of the natural
    environment with no strategy for clean-up. Most of all, without NAFTA,
    Mexico will have every incentive to make arrangements with Europe and
    Japan that operate to our disadvantage.
        Today, Mexican tariffs are two and a half times greater than U.S.
    tariffs. This agreement will create the world's largest tariff-free
    zone, from the Canadian Arctic to the Mexican tropics--more than 370
    million consumers and over $6.5 trillion of production, led by the
    United States. As tariff walls come down and exports go up, the United
    States will create 200,000 new jobs by 1995. American goods will enter
    this market at lower tariff rates than goods made by our competitors.
        Mexico is a rapidly growing country with a rapidly expanding middle
    class and a large pent-up demand for goods--especially American goods.
    Key U.S. companies are poised to take advantage of this market of 90
    million people. NAFTA ensures that Mexico's reforms will take root, and
    then flower.
        Moreover, NAFTA is a critical step toward building a new post-Cold
    War community of free markets and free nations throughout the Western
    Hemisphere. Our neighbors--not just in Mexico but throughout Latin
    America--are waiting to see whether the United States will lead the way
    toward a more open, hopeful, and prosperous future or will instead
    hunker down behind protective, but self-defeating walls. This Nation--
    and this Congress--has never turned away from the challenge of
    international leadership. This is no time to start.
        The North American Free Trade Agreement is accompanied by
    supplemental agreements, which will help ensure that increased trade
    does not come at the cost of our workers or the border environment.
    Never before has a trade agreement provided for such comprehensive
    arrangements to raise the living standards of workers or to improve the
    environmental quality of an entire region. This makes NAFTA not only a
    stimulus for economic growth, but a force for social good.
        Finally, NAFTA will also provide strong incentives for cooperation
    on illegal immigration and drug interdiction.
        The implementing legislation for NAFTA I forward to the Congress
    today completes a process that has been accomplished in the best spirit
    of bipartisan teamwork. NAFTA was negotiated by two Presidents of both
    parties and is supported by all living former Presidents of the United
    States as well as by distinguished Americans from many walks of life--
    government, civil rights, and business.
        They recognize what trade expanding agreements have meant for
    America's economic greatness in the past, and what this agreement will
    mean for America's economic and international leadership in the years to
    come. The North American Free Trade Agreement is an essential part of
    the economic strategy of this country: expanding markets abroad and
    providing a level playing field for American workers to compete and win
    in the global economy.
        America is a Nation built on hope and renewal. If the Congress
    honors this tradition and approves this agreement, it will help lead our
    country into the new era of prosperity and leadership that awaits us.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,
    November 3, 1993.

    Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    November 4.