    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [December 15, 1993]
    [Pages 2173-2176]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference
    December 15, 1993

    Multilateral Trade Negotiations

        The President. With that introduction, ladies and gentlemen, I am
    pleased to announce that the United States today, as you know, concluded
    negotiations with over 110 other nations on the most comprehensive trade
    agreement in history. This agreement eliminates barriers to United
    States goods and services around the world. It means new opportunities,
    more jobs, and higher incomes. And it cements our position of leadership
    in the new global economy.
        This GATT agreement advances the vision of economic renewal that I
    set out when I took the oath of office. The first task in pursuing that
    vision was to get our economic house in

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    order. The economic plan which passed earlier this year has resulted in
    lower interest rates, lower inflation, booming home construction, and
    the creation of more private sector jobs in this year than in the
    previous 4 years, and the highest level of consumer confidence now in 17
    years.
        But our renewal also depends on engaging actively with other nations
    to boost worldwide economic growth and to open markets to our goods and
    services. No wealthy country in the world today can hope to increase
    jobs and raise incomes unless there are more customers for its goods and
    services. Just since the Fourth of July, our administration has taken
    several major steps toward that goal. First, at the Tokyo G-7 summit we
    secured a market opening agreement among the major economies that
    breathed new life into these world trade talks. In November the Congress
    passed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which creates the
    world's largest free trade area. In the first-ever meeting of the Asia
    Pacific economic leaders in Seattle, we strengthened our ties to the
    world's fastest growing region. Now, after negotiations that have
    spanned 7 years and three U.S. administrations, we have secured a new
    GATT agreement. I have said repeatedly that I would not accept a bad
    agreement simply for the sake of getting one. I made clear that the
    final product had to serve our Nation's interests.
        This agreement did not accomplish everything we wanted. That has
    been well documented. And we must continue to fight for more open
    markets for entertainment, for insurance, for banking, and for other
    industries. But today's GATT accord does meet the test of a good
    agreement for three reasons.
        First, this new agreement will foster more jobs and more incomes in
    America by fostering an export boom. At its core, it simply cuts
    tariffs, the taxes charged by foreign nations on American products in
    8,000 different areas, on average by one-third. By sparking global
    growth, it is estimated that this agreement can add as much as $100 to
    $200 billion per year to our economy once it is fully phased in. It will
    create hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs.
        Second, this agreement sharpens our competitive edge in areas of
    United States strength. Under this agreement, free and fair rules of
    trade will apply for the first time not only to goods but to trade in
    services and intellectual property. This will help us to stop other
    nations from discriminating against world-class American businesses in
    such industries as computer services, construction, engineering, and
    architecture. And it will crack down on piracy against the fruits of
    American innovation, which today is costing United States firms $60
    billion a year, about one percent of our total gross domestic products.
        Finally, it does these things while preserving our ability to
    retaliate against unfair trade practices and our right to set strong
    environmental and consumer protection standards for economic activity
    here in the United States. That's why I believe this new GATT is good
    for America.
        Over the coming years, we have a solemn obligation to ensure that
    its benefits are broadly shared among all the American people. We must
    ensure that working men and women have the skills, the training, the
    education to compete and win under these new rules. Our Nation's gains
    must be their gains. Next year we will be working harder on that.
        Because this agreement will benefit our people and because it meets
    our standards of success, I've decided to notify the Congress today of
    my intention to sign this agreement. I look forward to consulting
    closely with Congress and the American people about how best to put its
    provisions into effect.
        I want to congratulate all our trade negotiators, many of whom have
    hardly slept in the last several days, and especially Ambassador Mickey
    Kantor for this historic breakthrough. The American people should know
    that they were well represented by people I personally observed to be
    tough and tireless and genuine advocates for our interests and our
    ideals.
        All of us can be proud that at this critical moment when many
    nations are facing economic troubles that have caused them to turn
    inward, the United States has once again reached outward and has made
    global economic growth our cause. This year we've worked hard to put the
    economic interest of America's broad middle class back at the center of
    our foreign policy as well as our domestic policy. Not since the end of
    World War II has the United States pushed to completion trade agreements
    of such significance as NAFTA and GATT. We've shown leadership by
    example. We've set forth a vision for a thriving global economy. And our
    trading partners to their credit have also rallied to that cause.

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        Today's agreement caps a year of economic renewal for our Nation. It
    should give us added reason for confidence as we enter the new year. But
    it should also reinforce our determination to do better in the new year.
        Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

    Russia

        Q. Mr. President, are you concerned, as many seem to be, over the
    rise of ultranationalism in Russia? And do you have any bulwark against
    a replay of the thirties if this happens to Russia, if there is this
    kind of closing out and rise of what's being considered fascist----
        The President. Well, let me say, of course I am concerned about some
    of the comments that have been made by the leader of the so-called
    Liberal Democratic Party in Russia. I think no American, indeed, no
    citizen of the world who read such comments could fail to be concerned.
        On the other hand, I think it's important to recognize that we don't
    have any evidence at this time that the people who voted for that party
    were embracing all those comments, or indeed, may have even known about
    them. And we don't yet know what direction the new Parliament will try
    to take. Am I concerned about that? Yes, I am. Do I think that this
    means there will be a big new dangerous direction in Russian policy? I
    don't think there's any evidence to support that.
        Q. How about your policy?
        The President. Well, because I don't know that there will be any
    change in Russian policy, I don't see any basis for a change in our
    policy at this time. On the other hand, it's something that we'll have
    to watch and work with. I think it calls on all of us to redouble our
    efforts to support the process of reform in Russia in a way that the
    ordinary citizens can understand will redound to their benefit.
        I believe this was clearly a protest vote, fueled by people who have
    been in, many of them, in virtual economic free fall and who have also
    suffered the kind of psychological damage that comes to people when they
    work harder for less money or when they lose their jobs or when they
    don't see any better day at the end of all the change. It is a more
    extreme example of what you have seen in our Nation and in other nations
    throughout the world. Thankfully, in the West where you've seen protest
    votes or votes against the established order of things, they've been
    within much more normal channels of debate. But I think plainly we have
    to assume that this is primarily a protest vote. We have to watch it. We
    have to stand up for what we believe in. But I think we should continue
    to support reform in Russia.
        Rita [Rita Braver, CBS News].
        Q. Sir, even if it is a protest vote, what can the U.S. do, if
    anything, to reverse this tide? And what's to say that it isn't going to
    keep going in the direction of fascism?
        The President. Well, first of all, some of it's being done already.
    I mean, I think the wide publicity being given to all the comments and
    statements will give you some indication before too long about whether
    people in the street in Russia embrace the stated print positions on all
    the things that have been said or whether it was a protest vote.
        But again let me say, keep in mind, this is the first popularly
    elected Parliament under a legitimate system of elections, to the best
    of my knowledge, that Russia has ever had. There are now two centers of
    democratic legitimacy in Russia, the President and the Parliament. And
    they will interface with one another in ways that are some predictable
    and some that are unpredictable. You can tell that from our experience
    here.
        I think it's important at this moment not to overreact. I don't mean
    to say we shouldn't be sensitive, but I just think let's wait and see
    who the people are who take their seats in the Parliament and what they
    do and what they say.
        Q. Mr. President, is Yeltsin under increasing pressure to hold the
    elections now before 1996? And if so, do you think he should?
        The President. I don't know about that. I don't have an opinion
    about that. I think that's a decision for them to make.
        Jim [Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News].

    President's Approval Ratings

        Q. Mr. President, in recent opinion polls, your personal and job
    approval ratings have been on a steady and some might say significant
    rise, while Ross Perot's have been pretty much plummeting. I mean,
    what's going on here? Can you tell us?
        Q. And he has a followup. [Laughter]
        Q. [Inaudible]
        Q. [Inaudible] Thank you very much.
        The President. Either you guys are going to

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    be really mad at him for asking the question or he has some check that I
    have bounced that he has a picture of. [Laughter]
        Q. Can't wait for the kicker.
        The President. What I think is happening is, first of all, the
    American people are beginning to feel--just beginning, there's a long
    way to go--beginning to feel some benefit of the economic changes
    brought on by the lower interest rates and the higher investment. I
    mean, when you have, like we had last month, a 19-year low in the number
    of people who are late paying their home mortgages and when millions of
    people refinance their homes in a year, when you have the job rate
    picking up, those things are bound to have an effect.
        Then I think we had a series of highly publicized struggles for
    change in the Congress that came out in favor of the position that our
    administration had taken. And the most visible ones lately, obviously,
    were NAFTA and the Brady bill. So I think those were the two reasons
    why. I think the American people want results and they also want an
    administration that will take on the tough problems and try to see them
    through.
        Q. And Mr. Perot?
        The President. I can't comment on that. You ought to ask the Vice
    President about that. [Laughter]

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. On the Middle East, Mr. President, on the Middle East, do you
    think there's still hope? The date has passed----
        The President. Absolutely. Absolutely.
        Q. Have you talked to any of the parties?
        The President. No, but I met with the Secretary of State this
    morning, and we talked about it. I asked him to talk to me about it, and
    we are still planning on going forward with our initiatives next year.
    It will be a major part of what we're going to do.
        Thank you very much.

    Health Care Reform

        Q. Mr. President, on health care, a quick question on health care?
        The President. One more. All right, one more, one more. [Laughter]
    It's Christmas, guys.
        Q. It seems as if a lot of Republicans seem to be really going after
    the health care reform proposal as you initially advanced it, and
    they're saying now they don't want to compromise. Jack Kemp says that it
    may have started off as an iceberg; it's going to wind up ice cubes. And
    Cheney is now saying he's totally opposed to it. Gingrich is saying
    there's no room for compromising on many of the aspects of the health
    care reform package. How far are you willing to go in making this health
    care package palatable to Republicans so it won't simply be a Democratic
    initiative?
        The President. Well, I told you what my principles were. My
    principles are two: universal coverage, without which you will never
    slow the rate of cost increase and stop the cost shifting; and a package
    of comprehensive benefits. I don't want to go through the whole
    catastrophic insurance fight that Congress had a few years ago. You all
    remember what happened there.
        Beyond that, I'm willing to talk to them about it. But I would just
    point out that today the questions really should be directed to them:
    What is your position? We now know that there are another 2.3 million
    people without insurance, that number of uninsured going up steadily.
    How do you justify leaving in place a system that costs 40 percent more
    of our income than any other system in the world and does much less?
    What is your justification for the status quo? It is the most
    bureaucratic system that exists anywhere in the world, and it has not
    worked.
        So their rhetoric, you know, I realize you can lob rhetoric that
    sounds very good, but I don't think that the rhetoric corresponds to the
    reality of the proposal. The proposal we made leaves in place the choice
    of doctors, gives more consumer choice to the American people than they
    have today, and will simplify lives for America's physicians if it
    passes.
        So I would have to say again, I welcome this debate, and it's fine
    to have a debate over principles on this issue. I want to. I told you
    what my two were. So when they say that they want to fight us, my
    question back is, what's your answer to the fact that the number of
    uninsured Americans is going up every single day? It's going in the
    wrong direction. Our plan would take it in the right direction.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President's 38th news conference began at 2:10 p.m. in the
    Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to
    Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Russia.