[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[February 26, 1997]
[Pages 208-213]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With President Eduardo Frei of Chile
February 26, 1997

    President Clinton. Good afternoon. Please be seated. First, let me 
say it's been a great pleasure to welcome President Frei to the White 
House. We meet in an historic moment for our hemisphere, when the 
foundation of democracy and free markets is firmly in place. Now we must 
lead in building on that foundation to forge a future of peace and 
prosperity.
    Chile is the window through which we see the Americas of tomorrow, a 
multiparty democracy, a firm commitment to human rights, proven economic 
reform. President Frei is working hard to make sure that all Chileans 
benefit from Chile's economic growth, lifting people from poverty and 
raising their aspirations. Chile is also an active global citizen, 
promoting peace from El Salvador to Iraq, sending civilian police to 
Bosnia, ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention.
    At the crossroads of trade among the world's most dynamic economies, 
Chile can be a cornerstone of the vibrant free trade area we are working 
to build in our hemisphere. Together, the United States and Chile are 
showing the promise of partnership in the Americas. Today President Frei 
and I reaffirmed our commitment to build on that partnership at the 
Summit of the Americas that Chile will host in March of 1998.
    At the summit in Miami in 1994, we charted a roadmap for collective 
action. Now we must set further milestones for progress that will 
benefit our people: deepening democracy, advancing trade, expanding 
opportunity, fighting drugs, and protecting the environment. I look 
forward to attending the Santiago summit and to working closely with 
President Frei to build on Miami's success.
    We also discussed the importance of open trade, both in boosting 
prosperity and in bolstering freedom and democracy. I repeated to the 
President what I told the Congress: I believe we must have fast-track 
authority to conclude new trade agreements that open markets to 
America's products and that advance our values. The United States simply 
cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while others share in the fruits 
of Latin America's remarkable growth.
    Chile's strong record of reform, good government, and sound fiscal 
policies make it an excellent candidate for the first use of such 
authority. Our administration remains committed to concluding a 
comprehensive free trade agreement with Chile. In that regard, I'm 
pleased to announce that I've asked the Secretary of Agriculture, Dan 
Glickman, to travel to Chile to inaugurate a new consultative process to 
promote our agricultural trade. Our countries have also agreed to launch 
negotiations on an open skies agreement.
    And finally, I want to mention something near to my heart, our 
Fulbright exchange program, the oldest in Latin America. Today Chile's 
decision to share this program's cost will help our people to build even 
stronger ties as we enter the 21st century.
    Over the next several months, as I visit Latin America and the 
Caribbean, I'll continue to advance the important agenda we focused on

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today, consolidating the historic journey of the Americas toward 
democracy, open markets, mutual respect, and cooperation. We are weaving 
a fabric of an integrated hemisphere, a community where people live, 
work, and learn together as friends on behalf of peace and progress.
    Before I ask President Frei to speak, I'd like to say just a few 
words, if I might, to the American people and the American press about 
our continued determination and our ongoing efforts to get to the bottom 
of the question of Gulf war illnesses. This week, as a result of the 
ongoing review we instituted several months ago, new documents have come 
to light further suggesting that our troops could have been exposed to 
chemical agents during the Gulf war. As soon as we get any new 
information, we share it with our veterans and the American people, and 
we will act appropriately on any information we uncover.
    I want to caution everyone that it is important not to prejudge the 
actions or the developments that occurred in the previous 
administration. We simply have to get to the bottom of it. Today I've 
written to Dr. Joyce Lashof, the Chair of our action committee on Gulf 
war illnesses, and asked the PAC to focus on the documents that have 
come to light this week. It is essential that we get all the help we can 
from the PAC in understanding the full significance of the documents and 
any other new information that might come to light. We cannot stop until 
we get all the answers about Gulf war illnesses.
    And now I'd like to ask President Frei to make an opening statement. 
And we'll take your questions.
    Mr. President.
    President Frei. Thank you, Mr. President. I would like in the first 
place to reiterate our thanks for this invitation. Chile is a country 
that in the recent years has consolidated its democracy. It has had 
sustained growth in the last 14 years, with average development and 
growth rates of 7 percent a year. And that has strengthened and 
consolidated our economy.
    We have given a front battle against poverty, bringing down to half 
the level of poverty we had during the eighties. And at the same time, 
we've done it within the framework of a tremendous opening to foreign 
trade--international trade. Chile has today economic complementation 
agreements with more than 30 countries. We are members of MERCOSUR 
starting October of last year. We are members of APEC, as the only South 
American country. And we are negotiating an agreement with the European 
Union.
    For all these reasons, at this working meeting we have discussed all 
the items--hemispheric ideas, the Summit of the Americas to be held in 
March of '98 in Chile, what are the main items and subjects and what we 
will focus on during the year: consolidation of democracy, free trade, 
struggle against poverty, and also very preeminent subjects that we have 
agreed to include in that Summit of the Americas, and that is education, 
science, technology, and training as the essential and foremost tool to 
leave under development.
    We have talked also about our participation in the United Nations 
and in all those issues of world peace. We have representatives of our 
armed forces in Iraq, and we will take part with members of our police 
forces in Bosnia. And we are very active seeking in Latin America the 
peaceful settlement of disputes. And this has been proven by our 
participation in several conflicts we've had in Latin America and very 
recently in those difficulties between Peru and Ecuador, whereby we have 
actively participated to consolidate peace in the region.
    Also, we have reviewed our bilateral relation. In the last years of 
my government, the increase of bilateral trade between Chile and the 
U.S. has had an explosive increase; it has increased more than 50 
percent in the last 2 or 3 years. Only in 1996 we've had investments of 
American firms equivalent to all of the American investment we had in 
Chile in the previous 15 years. And so with an exchange of more than 
$6.2 billion--of course, there are sensitive issues, especially in 
agricultural sectors. And we have expressed our way of thinking and our 
ideas as to trade, the points of interest to Chile, to the United 
States. And as the President has stated, our Secretaries of Agriculture 
will meet so as to jointly look for a solution to these problems that we 
believe always can emerge in such a vast, broad, and diversified trade 
relation as the one we have.
    Also, we have spoken of politics. We are interested in the 1998 
summit to speak of politics as we did in the Iberia-American summit of 
Santiago. Usually we used to discuss environment, free trade, and 
education. This time we raised the subject of democratic governance, 
good government, how to make our democracies effective in Latin America, 
how to solve the

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very specific and concrete problems of the people.
    And that item, that subject, we want to include it in the summit of 
next year. We know that democracy has to be built every single day with 
great effort and sacrifice, and that is why this conversation has been 
very open, candid. We are a small country. We are no power neither as to 
population nor are we an economic power. But with certain dignity we do 
have the capability of raising before the United States a very wealthy 
bilateral relation of great development and to work together in the 
hemisphere and in global policies.
    I believe that Chile, and this I say here solemnly, Chile is no 
example, nor model. What we've done is to build an experience based on 
our history. And of course, drawing upon the lessons and work of many, 
many generations, we have been able to consolidate this development 
model, this development process. And we have a historic opportunity. 
Never before has the country been in a position to view upon the future 
in a different manner.
    If we act in this way, I think that in the next years we can leave 
underdevelopment behind. That is what we want in Chile. That is what we 
want to build. And we feel partners with the United States in this major 
endeavor, that as a Latin American country I will be able to leave 
behind poverty, margination, and build a better future for our children. 
That is our task, the major project.
    And I feel today that, upon arrival to the United States, being 
received by the President and highest authorities, and when speaking 
tomorrow before the joint session of Congress--first time a Chilean 
President will have this honor--it's not an honor for the President, 
it's an honor to the country, for what we've been, for what we are, and 
what we are building.
    Thank you, Mr. President.

1996 Campaign Financing

    Q. Sir, the documents yesterday show you raised a great deal of 
money from people you entertained at the White House. Did you pay for 
their food and such? And can you really say the White House was not used 
as a fundraising tool?
    President Clinton. Absolutely. Look at the list of the people. We 
put it out there. A vast majority, I think almost seven-eighths of them, 
were people that I had relationships with that were independent of my 
campaign for President in '92. But some people did come and stay with me 
who helped me, and I think that's entirely appropriate. I don't think 
people who support you and help you through tough times and who believe 
in what you're doing should be disqualified from being the President's 
guests at the White House. But any Presidential guest at the White 
House, whether they're family members or dignitaries or whatever, their 
costs are not borne by the taxpayers.
    Mr. President, would you like to call on someone?

Free Trade and Fast-Track Authority

    Q.  A question for President Clinton. In Chile, your political will 
with regard to Chile's accession to NAFTA is well-known. However, at 
this point, with all the time that's gone by, we're asking for more 
concrete steps. Among those steps you are about to take, are you going 
to ask for fast-track authority from Congress?
    President Clinton. Yes. I am going to ask for fast-track authority 
from Congress. In my State of the Union Address I said that I would. And 
I want to reiterate today that I believe the first use of that authority 
should be to conclude a comprehensive trade agreement with Chile, and I 
would hope that the Congress would support that endeavor. I believe the 
President's speech to the Congress tomorrow will be very helpful in that 
regard. And I'm delighted that he came here; I'm delighted that this is 
my first state visit since I was reelected President.
    And I wish it had been done before, but it was simply not possible 
to pass through Congress. I do believe we'll get the fast-track 
authority, and I believe we'll conclude an agreement. But we have a lot 
of work to do. And as I said, the fact that the President is going to 
speak to Congress tomorrow to a joint session is a historic thing not 
only for Chile, but it's very important for the United States and for 
the future of this whole region.
    Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

1996 Campaign Financing

    Q. Mr. President, in the documents that were released yesterday, two 
high-ranking White House officials, Harold Ickes and Evelyn Lieberman, 
refer to DNC coffees at the White House as fundraisers. That, of course, 
would be illegal. How do you explain their choice of

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words, and do you think that any of the fundraising activities came 
close to skirting the line, going across the line into illegality?
    President Clinton. No. We got strict advice about--legal advice 
about what the rules were, and everyone involved knew what the rules 
were. Did we hope that the people that came there would support me, 
particularly after we got into a political season, when we were doing 
this? Of course we did. But there was no solicitation during the events. 
And the guidelines, which I believe were made available to you also 
yesterday in the documents, made it clear that there was to be no price 
tag on the events. Did the people hope that the folks that came to the 
events would subsequently support me? Yes, they did. And I think that 
was clear to everyone involved at the time. But there was no 
solicitation at the White House, and the guidelines made clear that 
there was to be no price tag on the events.
    Q. But the language in those memos?
    President Clinton. I think my own view is--and I haven't talked to 
the people, but that's how much they hoped would come out of their 
endeavors after the coffees were over. And I think, if you will ask 
them, you'll find that sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't.

Chile and NAFTA

    Q. President Clinton, Chile is a country with a small economy and a 
small population. Why do you think it deserves to be part of NAFTA?
    President Clinton. I think that Chile deserves to be part of NAFTA 
because it is the most successful democratic free market economy in 
Latin America, with high rates of growth, a deeply entrenched democracy, 
having overcome very well-documented, extreme difficulties in building 
that democracy over the last few decades. And really I think Chile is 
looked to as a leader in our hemisphere on political and economic 
matters. And I can't imagine how we could have a set of free trade 
agreements with our neighbors in Latin America that Chile was not a part 
of.
    And what I'm hoping is that others in our hemisphere who have now 
embraced democracy will see what Chile has done economically, not simply 
in having high rates of growth but also in reducing poverty, spreading 
the benefits of economic growth to more people. The commitments that the 
President has articulated in education, for example, that the First Lady 
saw so clearly when she was down there 2 years ago--I'm hoping that that 
will spread across our hemisphere and that when we come to Santiago next 
year there will be a deep feeling among all the other nations there 
represented that we should press on to create a free trade area of the 
Americas and that it should help more countries to bring the benefits to 
their people that the Chilean people are beginning to realize.
    So the symbolic significance of Chile is far beyond the size of the 
economy, although I wouldn't minimize the size of the economy and its 
potential for growth.
    Claire [Claire Shipman, CNN].

1996 Campaign Financing

    Q. Mr. President, given all the public attention at this point on 
the fundraising issue, and the calls now from Capitol Hill from 
Democrats and Republicans for an independent counsel, don't you think it 
might make sense at this point to have an independent counsel to take 
some of the pressure off?
    President Clinton. Well, I think what I always think about that. 
There is a statute, and that is a decision for the Attorney General to 
make. It should not be a political decision. It's a legal decision; the 
Attorney General has to make it.
    Q. Would you be opposed to an independent counsel?
    President Clinton. I'm not going to comment. I never have. It is a 
decision that should be made strictly on the law, based--by the Attorney 
General, not based on any politics. But the evidence that we made clear 
yesterday, I think is--I've answered the questions about that, and I 
don't think there is a legal issue there.

Trade and Domestic Politics in Chile

    Q. President Frei, have you been told by President Clinton the 
strategy he will use in the months ahead to propose fast-track on 
Congress? And also, a domestic question--have you decided--are you close 
to a decision to who will be president of the Christian Democrats in 
Chile?
    President Clinton. I'm glad you asked him a domestic question. Thank 
you. [Laughter]
    President Frei. What we think as to free trade is to show exactly 
what our experience has been, more than taking part as to--or referring 
to the decisions that the U.S. Government or Congress have to make. We 
are interested; of course we are. Why? Because as I said before, we

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have economic complementation agreements with more than 30 countries. 
Our foreign trade is highly diversified in Asia, Europe, and America. 
Our trade with Latin America is very similar to the one we have with the 
United States. That is why we have aggressively sought these agreements, 
allowing a small nation to consolidate those markets. Today if we had 
foreign trade--I mean, imports, exports, and related services--they 
account for practically 55 percent of our GDP. And so today at least 6 
or 7 out of 10 jobs in Chile depend on international trade.
    And that is why we believe that this has been beneficial for the 
country. And also, Chilean firms have gone abroad and invested more than 
$15 billion in the southern cone of America--unprecedented fact--
practically 20 percent of our GDP. And this has meant the creation of an 
area not only of free trade but of integration. We are working in 
physical integration, energy integration, and we are contributing to 
improve our quality of life in the continent and particularly in our 
country.
    That is why we've grown in recent years at rates--permanent rates 
about 6 or 7 percent, I would say. The last 14 years, we have a savings 
and investment rate that reaches unprecedented figures. Last year we had 
a saving investment rate of 28 percent, 28.5 of our GDP. And domestic 
savings, there the state contributes with 5 percent to domestic savings. 
And for 5 years we've had fiscal surplus.
    Our accounts are in order, and thus we are firmly convinced that 
free trade not only is a pillar and foundation for Chile's development 
but an essential condition to consolidate our political, social, and 
economic project. And that is why, of course, we are interested, and we 
are certainly interested in the agreement with the United States. We 
signed with Canada in November an agreement following the guidelines of 
NAFTA, and that includes labor and environmental clauses that we are 
also ready and willing to accept.
    So this is our vision of the country, how is our country going to be 
in the 21st century, and we are working toward that. And that is why we 
expect and the U.S. Government and Congress to define this, which is a 
road for Chile, of course, but it is also a road to be followed by the 
Americas.
    And as to the Christian Democrat Party in Chile, the President of 
the Republic is President of all Chileans and does not take part in 
active politics. There in Chile, I am head of state and head of 
government, and the decisions of the parties are independent decisions. 
And the Christian Democratic Party, of which I've been a member for more 
than 35 years, elects its authorities democratically, universal suffrage 
process which is underway, and at the end of March they will hold that 
election. All the members will vote, and they will democratically elect 
their authorities.

Consumer Price Index

    Q. Mr. President, are you ready to endorse Senator Lott's call for a 
commission of economists to once and for all settle this issue of 
whether the CPI overstates inflation?
    President Clinton. Let me say, first of all, I support a cost of 
living increase that is appropriate. I think it's important that it be 
accurate. There have been questions raised and opinions offered about 
that. And I think it's important that we agree to a procedure that will 
have credibility not only among both parties and their leaders in 
Congress but even more importantly out there among the American people. 
This is not a question for the budget; this is a question about the 
long-term viability of our systems and whether the CPI is an accurate 
reflection of how much the cost of living of Americans goes up every 
year.
    I appreciate Senator Lott's suggestion and I have--it is one of the 
things that I have considered, and I think we'll have some sort of an 
announcement on that in the not too distant future. But I think it's 
important for me to make sure that whatever we do has not only the 
confidence of Senator Lott, Senator Daschle, Speaker Gingrich, and 
Leader Gephardt and the members of their caucuses but also of the people 
out there in the country that will be living with whatever decision is 
made on this.
    So I think he made a good, constructive suggestion. I think we ought 
to take that under advisement. And we need to see what other options 
there are out there, and then we need to go forward, and I expect to do 
that.

Free Trade and Fast-Track Authority

    Q. President Clinton, since the Miami summit, not much progress has 
been done with regard to the free trade areas of the Americas. Do you 
think that the various regional processes in Latin America have been 
making much more

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headway, and do you think that the next summit is going to concentrate 
more on that than the FTAA?
    President Clinton. Well, I think the answer to your question is it 
depends in large measure on what we do here. Since the United States did 
not renew fast-track authority, there was not much more we could do. But 
a lot of progress has been made within South America, for example. Chile 
reached an agreement with the MERCOSUR countries, and a lot of other 
things have been going on there. And then we've been working on some 
specific issues with a lot of nations in our hemisphere.
    But I believe that our ability to get a free trade area of the 
Americas--Chile also, I think, made separate agreements with both Canada 
and Mexico. So our ability to get a free trade area of the Americas and 
to build what I think is potentially the most powerful economic unit in 
the early part of the next century now rests with the willingness of 
Congress to approve the fast-track authority and our ability to get back 
on track and try to be a constructive, cooperative part of this process. 
And I intend to do whatever I can to achieve that.
    And as I said, I'm delighted that the President is going to address 
Congress tomorrow. There's an enormous amount of admiration for Chile in 
the United States Congress, across party lines, for all kinds of 
reasons. And I think his words will be heard, and I think they will be 
exceedingly helpful.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 136th news conference began at 1:16 p.m. in Room 
450 of the Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
the President's Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses 
(PAC). President Frei spoke in Spanish, and his remarks were translated 
by an interpreter.