[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[May 10, 1994]
[Pages 895-896]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 895]]


Remarks to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations
May 10, 1994

    Thank you for being here and thank you for that warm welcome. As all 
of you know, this is the first meeting of our Advisory Committee on 
Trade Policy and Negotiations and the Intergovernmental and Policy 
Advisory Committee.
    There are a lot of people in this room with whom I have worked for 
many years on a wide variety of issues, especially on the economy. I am 
pleased with where we are going. You may know the blue chip forecast 
came out today, saying that there is no sign of inflation in the economy 
this year and next year and predicting a growth rate in the range of 
3\1/2\ percent this year, which means a continued effort to create jobs 
and move our economy forward. In the last 15 months or so, our economy 
has produced about 3 million jobs, most of them in the private sector--
which is a real departure, in terms of the percentage of new jobs in the 
private sector, from the last few years--a million jobs in the first 4 
months of this year, over a quarter of a million in April alone. So, I'm 
encouraged about the direction in which we are going.
    The Congress is moving rapidly to adopt the budget that I sent up 
which, if adopted as it is, will eliminate 100 programs, cut 200 more, 
still save some new money for education and training, for Head Start, 
for new technologies, for medical research, but represent the first 
overall reduction in domestic discretionary spending since 1969. And it 
will produce the first 3 years of declining deficits since Harry Truman 
was President, if this budget passes.
    So I think we are moving in the right direction. But we all know we 
have to do more to try to spark global economic growth and to spark 
growth in our country from global economic affairs. Last year we had 
NAFTA, we had the APEC meeting, we had an export policy which involved 
removing any number of items from export controls which had previously 
been placed on them during the cold war, and we've continued that work 
into this year.
    But the most important thing we can do this year, plainly, if we 
want to create hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs in America, is 
for Congress to ratify the GATT agreement. The Uruguay round cuts 
tariffs by over a third on manufactured products. Three-quarters of the 
world's trade growth over the next decade will come from the developing 
world, and GATT is expanded to cover things that it formerly has not 
covered, including intellectual property and services. We have got to 
adopt the GATT in the Congress this year.
    This is about exports and jobs. It's also about our leadership in 
the world. We broke 7 years of global gridlock last year to get this 
GATT agreement, and we've proved that we can do things finally around 
here that haven't been done in the past. It took 7 years to pass the 
Brady bill, but we did it after 7 years; 7 years for the family and 
medical leave bill. This crime bill has been hanging around here for 5 
years; it's going to be better and stronger than any crime bill we've 
ever passed, thanks in no small measure to the courage of the House last 
week in adopting the assault weapons ban. The GATT was around for 7 
years. So we're trying, this administration is, to earn a reputation for 
breaking gridlock at home and around the world. We cannot be the only 
nation not to ratify the GATT this year.
    Now, the problem is our trading partners are just now beginning to 
understand it's harder for us to do than it is for other countries 
because we operate under budget rules which require us to replace all 
the tariffs that we lower and give us no credit for the increased 
economic activity that will plainly flow and which will generate more 
tax revenues. The only thing that we can count is the reduced direct 
spending in agricultural subsidies that will come if we ratify the GATT. 
So our economic team, Dr. Tyson and Mr. Rubin and Mickey Kantor and the 
Treasury Department and Mr. Panetta at OMB, they've all been sort of 
splitting their heads trying to figure out how to get this done this 
year, because we estimate that over a 5-year period tariffs will be 
reduced by in the range of $14 billion. And we have to figure out how to 
replace that. We are working very hard to do it.
    But GATT will only pass if there is an American effort to pass it 
that is bipartisan, that is reasonable, that is credible, and that is 
consistent. And so I wanted to come here today to say to you, we need 
your help. We need all

[[Page 896]]

of your help. We're moving to restore a measure of global growth. We are 
beginning to get good predictions out of Europe, a lot of people 
thinking that Europe is beginning to turn around. I am very hopeful--I 
had a nice conversation with the new Japanese Prime Minister yesterday--
I am very hopeful that through our efforts--and we have a good 
relationship--we will be able to resume our trade talks and continue to 
make progress there, and they'll be able to get some growth back into 
their economy.
    But we have to continue to set the standard. People know that our 
economy is functioning at a higher level than many of our trading 
partners. They expect us to take the lead. And even though this is 
harder for us than it is for our partners, we've got to try to find a 
way to do it. I am convinced we can do it, just like we did with NAFTA, 
if, but only if, there is a bipartisan effort and if there is a 
business-government-labor effort and if there is a State, local, and 
national effort. If it is broad-based, if it is deep, and if it is real, 
and if it is constant, we can do this.
    But I really need your help if we're going to do it. And I hope you 
will resolve to make sure that we do achieve this so that we can go on 
to other areas. But it's a good agreement. It's good for America. And it 
will be a real shame if we walk away from it. Besides that, we need to 
keep our record of breaking gridlock going. I'm depending on you to 
help.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. in the Indian Treaty Room of the 
Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Prime 
Minister Tsutomu Hata of Japan.