    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [June 14, 2002]
    [Pages 989-990]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2002
    June 14, 2002

        I have today signed into law S. 1372, the Export-Import Bank
    Reauthorization Act of 2002. This legislation will ensure the continued
    effective operation of the Export-Import Bank, which helps advance U.S.
    trade policy, facilitate the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad, and
    create jobs here at home.
        The executive branch shall carry out section 7(b) of the bill, which
    relates to certain small businesses, in a manner consistent with the
    requirements of equal protection under the Due Process Clause of the
    Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
        Subsections 10(a) and 10(b)(2) of the bill purport to require the
    Secretary of the Treasury to negotiate with foreign countries

    [[Page 990]]

    and international organizations to achieve particular purposes and to
    require the Secretary to submit a report to congressional committees on
    the contents of negotiations and certain related executive
    deliberations. These provisions interfere with the President's
    constitutional authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs,
    supervise the unitary executive branch, and withhold information the
    disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national
    security, the deliberative processes of the executive, or the
    performance of the executive's constitutional duties. Accordingly, the
    executive branch shall construe these provisions as precatory rather
    than mandatory.
        The executive branch shall construe the reference to the ``Universal
    Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General
    Assembly on December 10, 1948,'' added to section 2(b)(1)(B) of the
    Export-Import Bank Act by section 15 of the bill, as only providing
    examples of types of human rights that the President may wish to
    consider in making a determination under section 2(b)(1)(B) and not as
    giving the Universal Declaration the force of U.S. law.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     June 14, 2002.

    Note: S. 1372, approved June 14, was assigned Public Law No. 107-189.