    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [November 3, 1993]
    [Pages 1885-1886]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1885]]

    Remarks on Signing the Message Transmitting Proposed NAFTA Legislation
    to the Congress and an Exchange With Reporters
    November 3, 1993

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, today I am sending to Congress
    the implementing legislation for NAFTA. This will create the world's
    largest tariff-free zone, from the Canadian arc to the Mexican tropics,
    with more than 370 million consumers and over $6.5 trillion of
    production. It will clearly benefit America's workers. Mexican tariffs
    today are 2\1/2\ times United States tariffs. As the walls come down, we
    estimate that another 200,000 American jobs will be created by 1995.
        NAFTA will also enable us to operate in an unprecedented manner in
    other areas. It will improve environmental conditions on the U.S.-
    Mexican border, something that all Americans know we need to do and
    something that all Mexicans know we need to do. It will be the stimulus
    for economic growth beyond Mexico, enabling us to go into the rest of
    Latin America with similar agreements. And perhaps most important in the
    short run, it will give the United States access to the Mexican markets
    on terms more favorable than those available to many of our competitors
    who have also rapidly been expanding their sales into Mexico, whether
    from Europe or Japan or the rest of Asia.
        If we turn away from NAFTA, we risk losing the natural trade
    advantage that should come to the United States as Mexico and the rest
    of Latin America build market economies and stronger democracies. If we
    embrace NAFTA, it is one strong step to take this country into the 21st
    century with a revitalized economy. That is clearly in the forefront of
    the minds of all Americans, and that is why we are all pursuing it here
    in this bipartisan fashion.
        I want to thank the Democratic and the Republican leaders of the
    Congress who are here with me today, thank them for their tireless
    efforts, along with our administration, Ambassador Kantor, Mr. Daley,
    Mr. Frenzel, and others. We are working hard. We are making progress,
    and I hope when we send this bill up to the Congress today that it will
    reaffirm the clear interest of the United States in adopting this
    agreement.
        I'd like to sign it now, and then we'll take a couple of questions.

    [At this point, the President signed the message transmitting the
    proposed legislation to implement the North American Free Trade
    Agreement.]

        Q. Mr. President?
        The President. I have to sign two, there being two Houses.
    [Laughter]

    Election Results

        Q. Mr. President, it's a year after your election and the Democrats
    have now lost two Senate seats, two Governors, the mayors of--
    [inaudible]--the largest cities in the country. Do you view it in any
    way as a judgment on your policies in the Democratic Party?
        The President. No. When Governor Robb was elected Governor of
    Virginia in 1981, I didn't think it was a repudiation of President
    Reagan. We also won a lot of mayors' races last night, including a lot
    of people who were early supporters of mine and very instrumental in the
    campaign. And we won the special elections for the House of
    Representatives that had come up that we had before. I don't think you
    can draw too much conclusion from this. I think what you can say is, the
    American people want change, and they want results. The point I want to
    make is that I believe every Member of Congress, without regard for
    party, who votes for this agreement will be rewarded for it, because it
    represents change and the creation of more economic opportunity. I think
    it represents change and results. That's the way incumbents are going to
    survive, by providing the kind of changes that the voters want.
        Q. So you don't think it's any reflection on you, or any referendum
    on you or your programs?
        The President. Let me say this: I was elected Governor of my State
    five times. Once I was elected in 1984 when Ronald Reagan got 59 percent
    of the vote in my State, and I got 63 percent. Voters are extremely
    discriminating. They make their own judgments for their own reasons. I
    think it is a manifestation that the voters are not yet happy with the
    pace of economic renewal, social reunification in this country. They're
    worried about crime. They're wor-

    [[Page 1886]]

    ried about all of these other social problems we've got. And I think
    it's also a sense they have that Government's not yet working for them.
        And all that is right. There's nothing wrong about that. And I think
    that all people who are in, if they want to stay in, are going to have
    to work together until we produce economic results, a country that's
    coming together instead of coming apart, and political reform. But
    that's why I will say again, it's certainly not a message to run and
    hide from the tough issues; that is not what it is. And that's why I
    think, again, I think NAFTA is symbolic of the kinds of things that
    people ought to be doing across party lines, because it will create
    economic opportunity. And that will lower voter anxiety. When people
    won't have to worry about whether the economy is growing or not, they'll
    be much more secure, and we'll be able to deal with a whole lot of these
    other issues that we've got. That's why I think this is a very
    important, symbolic issue.

    NAFTA

        Q. Do you have the votes?
        The President. Do we have the votes? We don't have them today, but
    we're getting there. Really, I think all of these people would admit,
    thanks to all of them, we're making rapid progress. And we had a real
    movement in the last 10 days or so, and I think you'll see more and more
    progress in the next few days.
        Q. Are you going to win?
        The President. Yes. We're going to win it.
        Q. Are you cutting too many deals? The big sugar deal, is this
    just----
        The President. No.
        Q. Isn't that protectionist, the sugar concessions for the Louisiana
    Members?
        The President. I think the Ambassador is going to have a--you're
    going to have a press conference this afternoon to talk about that,
    aren't you?
        Ambassador Kantor. Yes.
        The President. We haven't done anything that's not consistent with
    what we said we'd try to do from the beginning on this agreement. And
    Mickey's going to talk about it today.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House.