    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [December 18, 1993]
    [Pages 2188-2189]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    December 18, 1993

        Good morning. On this last Saturday before Christmas I want to thank
    you for listening before you go shopping. And on behalf of America's
    retailers, I promise I won't keep you long today.
        I'd like to talk a little bit about our economic future. I don't
    mean next week's sales, as strong as I hope they'll be. I mean the
    future that you and your children will enjoy as families and as workers
    in the global economy that is taking shape around us.
        When I entered office, I pledged that economic renewal would be my
    highest mission. Our first order of business was to get our own economy
    in competitive trim. That's why we enacted an economic plan that reduces
    our deficit by half a trillion dollars over the next 5 years while
    making targeted investments in technology, education and training, and
    defense conversion to help those industries and people who have been
    hurt by defense cutbacks.
        Already, that plan is helping to earn important dividends. Interest
    rates are at historic lows. Inflation is down. We've had 4 straight
    months of rising housing starts, and last month there was a 19-year low
    in the number of people who were late in their home mortgage payments.
    Millions of people have refinanced their homes and businesses, and the
    country's created more private sector jobs this year alone than in the
    previous 4 years combined. Consumer confidence is up dramatically.
    Ordinary Americans are finally beginning to feel the impact of this
    recovery. But there is a lot more to do.
        First, while renewal must begin here at home, we also have to reach
    beyond our borders if we are to prosper over the long run. That's one
    message I have to leave with you today. We're in a time of enormous
    economic change. Old Communist economies are giving way to market
    forces. Information, ideas, and money speed around the planet at the
    speed of light. The new global economy is generating incredible
    prosperity but also an awful lot of uncertainty and dislocation.
        Americans are worried, rightly, about the security of their jobs,
    about the ability of their companies to stay afloat, about the flight of
    factories abroad and whether the people running

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    their companies really care about them, about the opportunities all our
    children will have. It's understandable that so many Americans view the
    global economy as a threat. But we have to resist the impulse to
    withdraw behind our trade barriers. From the founding of our Republic to
    the settling of our broad prairies, it's always been in the American
    character to reach out and shape our own destiny. We must draw on that
    spirit for our Nation to thrive in this new age.
        Our workers in today's economy are more productive than ever. Fewer
    people are producing more and more goods and services. But in an
    environment like that, the only way to create more jobs and to raise
    incomes is to have more customers. And that means more exports. That's
    why, in this global economy, America must compete and not retreat.
        Since this summer, our administration has taken several important
    steps to do that. First, at a July summit in Tokyo, we reached agreement
    with our major trading partners in Europe, Japan, and Canada to open
    their markets in a number of sectors to our products. We also struck a
    new agreement with Japan that can begin to correct our unacceptable
    trade imbalance with them.
        Second, in November we secured congressional approval of the North
    American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA creates the world's largest free
    trade area. For America, that means we can find new customers in Mexico,
    and that in turn means more jobs here at home. And NAFTA can lead to
    similar arrangements with emerging free market economies all across the
    Latin American area.
        Just after we passed NAFTA, I convened a first-ever meeting in
    Seattle with leaders from the Asian-Pacific region, the fastest growing
    economy in the world. I made it clear that our Nation intends to share
    in the rising tide of Pacific prosperity.
        And just this week, we concluded the GATT world trade talks that
    began 7 years ago. This is a good, solid deal for our workers and our
    businesses. It cuts foreign tariffs on U.S. products in 8,000 different
    product areas by an average of a third. Once it's fully in place, it
    will add as much as $100 billion to $200 billion to our economy every
    year, and create hundreds of thousands of new and good-paying American
    jobs.
        When you put that with the fact that we have removed export controls
    from over $35 billion in high-tech computers and telecommunications
    equipment, I'm proud of the strides our country has made toward opening
    our economy, generating more jobs from trade and renewal this year.
        Not since the end of World War II has the United States secured so
    many historic trade expansion agreements in so short a period. These
    efforts are making the world's economic changes work to our advantage,
    and they're reestablishing our leadership in global affairs. But none of
    this would have been possible without the work that you do every day to
    make our Nation stronger, to make our communities more vibrant, and our
    families more secure.
        This year, we've worked hard to help you in those daily strivings.
    We've put the economic interests of America's broad middle class back at
    the center of our policies at home with a fairer Tax Code, with a tax
    break to 15 million lower wage working families to encourage them to
    keep working and raising their children and to stay off welfare with
    passage of the family and medical leave law.
        And during the coming year, my administration will continue to work
    so that all Americans can benefit from this new global economy. That
    means we have to pass a dramatic retraining program, pass our school-to-
    work program to help with apprenticeships for non-college-bound young
    people, pass the safe schools act and our safe streets initiative to put
    100,000 more police officers on your streets, and pass universal health
    care reform so that health care will be a security for American families
    and always be there.
        As we celebrate our blessings during this holiday season, let's
    remember that Americans have never cowered from change; we have always
    mastered it. That is something to be grateful for. And together, we're
    going to do it once again.
        Thanks for listening.

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