[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[October 16, 1993]
[Pages 1759-1760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
October 16, 1993

    Good morning. I want to talk with you today about our prosperity and 
our strength now and in the years to come. From the beginning of our 
administration I promised bold action with a plan for economic growth. 
We moved to put our fiscal house in order, to bring the deficit down, to 
spur business investment, and start investing in our own people again. 
Our plan passed the Congress, and now good things are beginning to 
happen.
    We still have a long way to go, but there's clearly been real 
progress. Long-term interest rates are at historic lows. That means more 
businesses investing in jobs and economic growth. Home mortgages are at 
a 25-year low. That's put more money in the pockets of millions of 
Americans who are now buying or refinancing their homes.
    During the first 8 months of this administration our American 
economy has created 1.1 million private sector jobs, more than had been 
generated in the previous 4 years. Our people have been waiting for a 
long time for a strong recovery. We've made progress, but we know there 
are other things we've got to do if we're going to put America at full 
strength for the long term. For one thing, we've got to have someone to 
buy our products and our services. To do that, we've got to look beyond 
our borders, to jolt our export markets so they will grow and create 
jobs here at home.
    All wealthy nations are finding today that they can't create jobs 
without expanding trade. It's not just the United States, the same thing 
is true in Germany and the rest of Europe and in Japan. I know we can do 
it because, just as with the rest of the progress we've made so far, 
we've got a plan to increase exports. Already we've lowered cold war 
trade barriers, $37 billion worth of high-tech equipment which we can 
now sell in the export markets. We're working with Japan and with the 
entire international trading system to open up new markets for our 
manufactured products. And we've got a very important part of that plan 
right here in our area, called the North American Free

[[Page 1760]]

Trade Agreement. Perhaps you've heard it called NAFTA. The bottom line 
is this: NAFTA will help create export relationships that will produce 
jobs, 200,000 of them by 1995, and will continue to create jobs in the 
future. It will help our economy to grow.
    Everywhere on Earth, more exports mean more jobs. And these jobs on 
average pay better, 17 percent better than jobs that don't have anything 
to do with exports. Critics may say what they will, but they can't 
dispute the facts. We are competing in an era of almost unimaginable 
economic change, where investment and information can cross the globe in 
the flicker of a computer screen. It's a new world. But on the trade 
front, America has too often been playing by old rules.
    Our chief rivals in the global marketplace have been adapting. 
Europe has been developing its own trading bloc. Japan has cornered much 
of Asia. And now with NAFTA, we can adapt by using our friends and 
neighbors, first in Canada and Mexico and eventually in the rest of 
Latin America.
    With NAFTA, our products will have easier access to Canada and the 
second fastest growing market in the entire world, Latin America. 
Without NAFTA, one of our best markets, Mexico, could turn to Japan and 
Europe to make a sweetheart deal for trade. With NAFTA, we'll be 
creating the biggest trading bloc in the world right at our doorstep and 
led by the United States. Without NAFTA, Mexico could well become an 
export platform allowing more products from Japan and Europe into 
America.
    Why would we want that to happen? It's no accident that NAFTA is 
supported by every living former President, almost every serving 
Governor, and leaders of both parties. And yet, I know many Americans 
are worried about the agreement. They've been told that companies will 
head South once the ink is dry because wages are lower and environmental 
investments are cheaper in Mexico. But all the wishing in the world 
won't stop those companies from leaving today. Today companies can go to 
Mexico and produce for the American market with low tariffs if they want 
to. But NAFTA will require Mexico to enforce its own environmental laws 
and labor standards, to raise the cost of production in Mexico by 
raising wages and raising environmental investments. That will make it 
less likely, not more likely, that a company will cross the Rio Grande 
River to take advantage of lower wages or lax pollution laws.
    I say again, under NAFTA more jobs will stay at home here in America 
and more American exports will head to Mexico. NAFTA means exports, and 
exports mean jobs. I believe with all my heart the fear stirred up over 
NAFTA flows from the pounding the middle class took over the past decade 
and a half, not from NAFTA itself. But I have to tell you, as your 
President, I could not be for this trade agreement unless I believed 
strongly that we needed to ensure the economic security of our hard-
working middle class families.
    That's why I'm fighting in Congress to pass NAFTA when it votes on 
it next month. I hope you'll tell your Representatives that you want it 
to pass, too. If you want to create more American jobs, if you want to 
lower the differences in cost of production in America and Mexico, if 
you want to take down barriers in Mexico to exports, then you should 
want NAFTA.
    And let me say again, America right now has a trade surplus with 
Mexico. Mexicans, even though their incomes are lower than Americans, 
are the second largest purchaser of American products per person, second 
only to Canada. This means greater opportunities for our people and more 
jobs. I hope that you will support it.
    Before I close, I want to say a word about our brave helicopter 
pilot who was held and then released in Somalia. Tonight Michael Durant 
is on his way home. We are thankful beyond words that Chief Warrant 
Officer Durant will be reunited with his family and that he will recover 
from his wounds. At the same time, our hearts and the hearts of all 
Americans go out to the 18 families who are grieving tonight for their 
loved ones who were lost in Somalia and to nearly 100 others who were 
wounded. They and their comrades are in our prayers.
    God bless you all, and thanks for listening.

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