[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[April 22, 2008]
[Pages 546-557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference With President Felipe de Jesus Calderon
Hinojosa of Mexico and
Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada in
New Orleans
April 22, 2008
President Bush. Thank you all. Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister,
welcome to the great city of New Orleans. Thank you all for coming as
well. New Orleans is one of America's really top cities. And they, the
people of New Orleans, appreciate the help you gave them right after
Hurricane Katrina, and so I want to thank you very much for that. New
Orleans has always been a crossroads for our continent. And today,
there's no better place for our nations to look forward to a bright
future, and that's what we're here to do.
I--one of the things our--you know, people ask, well, does it make
sense for Mexico, Canada, and the United States to meet? Absolutely, it
makes sense. We're neighbors. A prosperous neighborhood is in our
interests; a secure neighborhood is in our interests. And we share
common values. So I'm not surprised we've had good meetings. Plus, we
like each other. It's easy to work with leaders who are straightforward
and honest, tell you what's on their mind, and who care deeply about the
people of their countries and who are problem-solvers. And that's how I
have found this meeting and the previous meetings we've held.
We talked about trade. Mexico, Canada, and the United States made a
bold decision in the early 1990s. Our countries decided to reduce our
trade barriers through the North American Free Trade Agreement. That was
a visionary move by previous leaders, a move that has benefited all
three of our countries a lot. Trade has tripled. Our economies have
grown by more than 50 percent.
Now is not the time to renegotiate NAFTA or walk away from NAFTA.
Now is the time to make it work better for all our people. And now is
the time to reduce trade barriers worldwide.
And so we spent time talking about the Colombia free trade
agreement. Canada is negotiating a Colombia free trade agreement. Mexico
has a free trade agreement with Colombia. And a lot of folks are waiting
for the United States Congress to bring this issue up and pass it. It
makes no sense to me to say that Colombia goods can come into our
country duty free, yet our goods can't go into Colombia duty free. And
yet that's the case.
An agreement with Colombia would level the playing field, and a
failure to pass an agreement would send a terrible signal to our
neighborhood. The Speaker of the United States
Congress has killed this bill unless she gives us a date certain for a
vote. It is a bad decision on her part, and it's bad for our hemisphere
to have the United States of America turn its back on a mutual friend
like Colombia.
We're working to make sure we reduce regulations and to add--to make
sure that our small businesses and farmers and producers are able to
move product in a way without a bunch of government regulations in
between. And it's not easy work, because obviously we want to maintain
high standards and work for good safety precautions. Yet we're making
progress.
And we've charged others to continue to work; like, Carlos
Gutierrez and my Cabinet will work on
issues with his counterparts for more harmonized standards to reduce the
cost of producing cars and trucks throughout our entire market. In other
words, you've got different regulations in different countries that make
it difficult to compete globally and cause our products to be more
expensive than they should be.
[[Page 547]]
We're talking about food and product safety standards to make them
compatible in a way that guarantees safety for our consumers. We talked
about the need for us to work together to promote clean, efficient, low-
carbon energy technologies. Obviously, we talked about global warming
and the need to make sure that major economies are all party to an
agreement.
People say, well, are you really committed to global--to reducing
global warming? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I gave a speech in the
Rose Garden the other day that made it abundantly clear the United
States is for an effective climate agreement that includes binding
commitments from all major developed and developing economies, and we'll
continue to work toward that end.
And then obviously, we're still working to make sure our borders
work well. I mean, there's complications on these long borders. I
understand that. We're making progress addressing problems and, at the
same time, making sure that our people are safe.
For example, we've had an issue with Mexico. The last time--the time
before last we met, the President made it abundantly clear that he felt
the United States ought to do more to prevent guns from going into the--
from the United States into Mexico. I couldn't agree more with him. And
we put a process in place that do a variety of things, all aiming to
make sure that our neighbors and our neighborhood isn't scourged by
these thugs who use guns out of the United States to hold their people
hostage, hold the country hostage. And so we've got a lot of tough work
to do, but we're doing it.
And finally, in terms of just bilateral relations with Mexico, the
Merida project is an important project to help implement a dual strategy
to deal with crime and drugs. The President and I have talked about this
initiative in a way that benefits the people of Mexico and the United
States. The initiative conclude--includes a commitment this year of $550
million by the United States. And Congress needs to pass the deal--pass
the bill. And they need to pass it in such a way that it conforms to the
strategy that the President of Mexico thinks will best help deal with
this issue.
All in all, it's been a very--it's been a good summit. And I
appreciate you all coming. New Orleans is a fun town. I'm looking at the
press corps to make sure that they didn't take advantage of it.
[Laughter] You look well rested.
Anyway, it's a great place. I'm glad you're here. Thanks for coming.
Mr. President.
President Calderon Hinojosa. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you,
President Bush, my friends from the media, from the press, Prime
Minister Harper. First of all, I'd like to thank you, Mr. President. I'd
like to thank President Bush and the people of the United States for
your hospitality. I think that the city of New Orleans has been an ideal
venue for this leaders' summit.
And I'd like to say that I congratulate the people of Louisiana for
their determination, for their strength. I congratulate the people of
the United States, as well, for the recovery they've shown after the
effects of Hurricane Katrina. And I repeat that Americans can always
count on the solidarity of Mexicans during times of tragedy as a result
of, in this case, a natural phenomenon.
I'm pleased because the meeting allowed President Bush, Prime
Minister Harper, and myself to work on an agenda that was devoted to
improving the welfare of our peoples. President Bush already mentioned
some of the issues we talked about. I would simply underscore the
following.
First, we reasserted commitments we adopted in Montebello last year,
such as that of strengthening the competitiveness of our region,
cooperation in the area of imports, products from other areas of North
America, food security, and also improving the situation of all the
regulation
[[Page 548]]
among our three countries. And our Secretary will be spearheading the
work on the Mexican side in order to deregulate measures affecting
trade.
Second, we talked a lot about the NAFTA, and of course, we agreed
that this is not the time to even think about amending it or canceling
it. This is the time to strengthen and reinvigorate this free trade
agreement among our three countries. Thanks to the free trade agreement,
trade exchange went beyond $900 trillion, behind which we have jobs; we
have investment; we have goods and services that improve the quality of
life of Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans. And we want these benefits
to reach more and more of all our citizens.
Third, we agreed on the need to strengthen investments and
cooperation among all our nations. And the business leaders of the three
countries gave us a very specific agenda that records the progress we've
made and also establishes how much more quickly we need to work within
the North American Competitiveness Council, where the three leaders
agreed we fully need to support the work of this Competitiveness
Council.
Fourth, we recognized the progress made within the regulatory
framework that's compatible for all three countries.
Fifth, we agreed that the efforts we've made in the area of
intellectual property have transferred to major hits against smuggling
and the work of pirates. In the case of Mexico, for example, last year,
we carried out the biggest seizures in the history of our country. And
in fact, last night we had some major efforts carried out against
organized crime. And the three countries will continue to work on
improving the conditions of law enforcement.
Six, we also talked a lot about border projects. Our three countries
want to have safe borders, and we want to have efficient borders,
borders that will improve the competitiveness of our various businesses
and for the entire region. We talked about how to make the flow along
the borders even better, how to improve trade there.
Of course, there are issues of interest between Canada and the
United States. They're working on those issues. In the case of Mexico,
we are working very hard on how to expand the border crossings between
Mexico and the United States with projects that are already in course:
ones in Reynosa, others in Juarez and different points across the
border.
We also exchanged viewpoints on the issues that have to do with
security in the region. And in this case, we talked to President Bush
about the Merida Initiative, an initiative that is focused on facing a
joint strategy with regard to a joint--a common enemy, which is
organized crime, which operates on both sides of the border and which
does not recognize any borders, any limits. And unfortunately, it
affects Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. families.
It's very important for our Congresses and Parliaments in our
respective countries to strengthen, support the decisive actions that we
are carrying out in order to eradicate this scourge that is affecting
all of North America.
We also stressed the need to continue to promote growth and
development in our entire region. Throughout the continent, and
especially in Mexico, we're concerned about Latin America. That's why
it's important for this cooperative and collaborative mechanism among
the United States, Canada, and Mexico to work. And that's why we also
need to redouble the successful cases where trade and cooperation are
fruitful and lead to tangible results for our people.
I want to talk about the efforts being made in this country to
establish free trade agreements that are much more practical and
beneficial for everyone, in particular, the one under discussion now in
the U.S. Congress between the United States and Colombia. It's extremely
important, I think, to bear in mind that when you provide more
opportunities for trade in the Latin
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American region, there will be many more opportunities for prosperity.
And it needs to be made very clear that the prosperity of Latin America,
and particularly that of Mexico, is a crucial factor for the prosperity
of the people of North America.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I'm convinced, and after this meeting
even more so, that after 14 years of a very decisive step, which was the
North American Free Trade Agreement, today, the relations between the
United States, Canada, and Mexico is more dynamic, more fluid, much more
successful than ever before.
In particular, I want to thank President Bush for his leadership in
holding not just this meeting here in the United States but the fact
that these meetings were established in the year 2005. And President
Bush's leadership has been very important for these meetings to be held
among the three countries, which don't just affect the leaders attending
the meetings themselves but allow all of us to coordinate our policies,
our activities, and our objectives in order to ensure greater regional
prosperity.
This is the last meeting for President Bush. From now on, the
veteran for these meetings is going to be Prime Minister Harper. And I'm
sure that whoever the next President of the United States will be, he or
she will continue with this regional effort. Independently of the fact
that, unfortunately, President Bush will not be with us, we have at
least informally invited him to our next meeting personally.
And I'd like to announce formally, on behalf of the Mexican
Government, that we have conveyed to the Governments of the United
States and Canada a very special invitation to take part at the next
leaders' summit of 2009 to be held in Mexico. And of course, from now
on, we will be preparing to make sure the summit is memorable and
productive, a summit that will offer the taste of the hospitality of the
people of Mexico and will also allow us to reach various specific
decisions on a number of issues which, as we have shown at this meeting,
have been very carefully analyzed. And the options for the North
American Competitiveness Council and the three administrations is very
clear.
I hope that we will continue have an even more prosperous North
American region, a region where the United States, Canada, and Mexico
will gain in competitiveness vis-a-vis other regions of the world which
are now leading in terms of growth and productivity. But I'm sure that
we can achieve this, especially if we persevere with the good will that
has been demonstrated at this New Orleans meeting.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, and thank you to the American
people.
Prime Minister Harper. This is the last--we talked about common
stakes for our three countries. President Bush, myself, and--we have
discussed about commerce and the advantages that NAFTA brings to our
three countries and has been doing for 14 years. We talked about the
progress that we've made, and we have talked about not only what has
been done, but also what needs to be done.
We concluded that it's essential for the prosperity of our countries
to continue this effort. And we have emphasized in particular the border
crossing, Windsor-Detroit. It is evident that a greater North American
cooperation will lead to the creation of jobs and will allow us to
compete in a very effective way to other emerging commercial blocs
around the world.
I would like--also talked about our concern about the thickening of
the border between our countries. The Chambers of Commerce of the United
States and Canada are concerned about these border issues for several
years. And the council for competitiveness has also talked about their
concern about this border issues.
It was a great pleasure to come to New Orleans for this summit. And
of course, I want to thank President Bush and the population of New
Orleans for their great hospitality. And I'm looking forward to see
President Calderon, who will greet us in
[[Page 550]]
Mexico and welcome us to Mexico next year.
[At this point, Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]
President Bush, President Calderon, and I have discussed the common
issues and challenges facing our three countries. We discussed the
importance of cooperation on security and trade and the benefits that
NAFTA has produced for each of our three countries over the last 14
years.
We also talked about the progress we've made and are continuing to
make to improve North American security. We agreed that continuing to
improve and expand trade is the key to greater prosperity for our
peoples, and we are putting special emphasis on the Detroit-Windsor
crossing.
It's clear that greater North American cooperation is our best
option to create jobs and to compete effectively with emerging trading
blocs elsewhere in the world. To that end, I specifically raised
concerns about the so-called thickening of the Canada-U.S. border. The
Canadian and American Chambers of Commerce have been worried about this
for several years, and the North American Competitiveness Council raised
their concerns at our meeting this morning.
It has been a pleasure to come to New Orleans for this summit. I--my
only regret, Mr. President, is that I didn't bring my wife and decide to
spend a lot more time here. But it's been wonderful to visit here, to
see the rebuilding. I won't say my farewells, because you and I have a
few more meetings, including the G-8 this summer, that we're looking
forward to.
I also look forward to seeing you, President Calderon, in the
future--and for your offer to host us next year. And I can tell you,
Canadians are always delighted to visit Mexico in the wintertime, so
keep that in mind. [Laughter]
President Calderon Hinojosa. Thank you.
President Bush. Okay, a couple of questions.
Trade/2008 Presidential Election/Mexico-Canada-U.S. Relations
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to follow up on your comments
about NAFTA. The Democratic Presidential candidates, in fact, are
talking about renegotiating that trade agreement if elected. I'm
wondering if you're worried that their comments on the campaign trail
are perhaps overshadowing your protrade agenda. In essence, do you worry
that you're losing the free trade debate in the courts of public
opinion?
And to President Calderon and Prime Minister Harper, I'd like to get
your thoughts about expanding your trade relationship with the United
States. Is there a point at which you shift attention to the people
running for the White House and their views and try to reach out to
them?
President Bush. Actually, my biggest concern on trade right now is
with Colombia. NAFTA exists, and NAFTA--when you analyze it in an
objective way, it benefits--beneficial to America. It also happens to be
beneficial to Mexico and Canada, which makes it a, you know, a very
good, comprehensive agreement.
It's beneficial to us because when you're able to export to your
neighborhood, it helps create jobs. Jobs are created when people find
outlets for their goods and services. We have found a lot of outlets for
our goods and services with our--in our neighborhood. It also helps
consumers when you import. In other words, the more choices consumers
have, the more options they have, the more--less likely it is there will
be price increases, and it's better for your consumers. This agreement's
been beneficial in creating wealth in our neighborhood. Our economies
have all grown.
I also happen to think it's very important for our citizens. I wish
people could remember what the border looked like between Texas and
Mexico before NAFTA. I mean, it was poor, really poor, on both sides of
the border. If you go down there
[[Page 551]]
today, there's prosperity on both sides of the border, and that's in our
Nation's interests.
I mean, one way to increase pressure on the border is to--if you do
it--away with NAFTA, there's going to be a lot of Mexicans--more
Mexicans out of work. It will make it harder on the border. It will make
it harder to deal with. So people who say, ``Let's get rid of NAFTA,''
because of a throwaway political line, must understand this has been
good for America, and it's also been good for Mexico and Canada, and
that's what you want in your neighborhood.
Secondly, my biggest concern is to turn our back on our friends in
Colombia. The Speaker of the House made a
decision, using an extraordinary procedure, to prevent a vote on a trade
bill that had been negotiated in good faith between our respective
countries. You heard the--President Calderon say, it's in the region's
interest to trade freely and fairly. Well, this agreement we have with
Colombia right now is not fair for America, it's not fair for our
businesses, it's not fair for our farmers. And all I'm asking the
Congress is to make it fair.
And if they--if the Speaker doesn't bring--
give us a date certain on the bill, she's effectively killed it. It's
her responsibility, and she's going to have to explain why the voices of
false populism have been strengthened, why anti-Americanism could
flourish, when America turns its back on a strong leader like President
Uribe and a friend for democracy like
President Uribe.
I'm concerned about protectionism in America. It's not in our
interests to become a protectionist nation. And so I'll continue to
speak out on it and assure our friends that we will work hard to explain
to the people the benefits of why free and fair trade is in our Nation's
interest.
President Calderon Hinojosa. First of all, what we have to do--all
of us who have responsibilities vis-a-vis our citizens--is to
objectively study the facts. What's happened with NAFTA in our three
countries? Before NAFTA, there were many businesses, Mexican businesses,
that were afraid, and they alleged that it was impossible to compete
with the sophisticated and modern U.S. companies. And they weren't going
to survive. There were also many U.S. companies who thought it was
impossible to compete in more open markets. Now, what was the result?
The result has been that trade has grown, and that has led to gains for
everyone involved.
Contrary to what they believe--that one was going to win, the other
would lose--it was a win-win situation, and NAFTA has benefited the
three countries. Trade has grown in all three, jobs have grown in all
three, and even wage levels have gone up in all three. Today, the
economies of Canada, Mexico, and the United States are bigger and
stronger than they were 14 years ago. Income per capita for all three
has also grown compared to 14 years ago. The benefits are visible, and
all you need to do is to talk based on demonstrated results.
To talk about taking a step backwards, in terms of free trade in the
case of Mexico, would effectively provoke considerable damage on the
economy. And another factor I was discussing yesterday with President
Bush--that he reiterated today, and I will reiterate as well--would be a
sudden loss of economic opportunities that would even lead to even
greater migratory pressure in the--against--with the United States.
We are doing everything we can in order to create job opportunities
in Mexico for people so that Mexicans will not need to seek job
opportunities outside their country. And the only way to do it is by
creating jobs in Mexico, and the only way is, precisely, multiplying our
possibilities of trade.
In the case of the U.S. economy, if you were to take a step
backwards with regard to NAFTA or free trade, you would be condemning
Americans to have one of the
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least competitive economies in the developed world. While other parts of
the world are accelerating their growth, their integration--China,
Japan, India, Asia--in order to have more competitive economies and more
complementary situations--and Europe is already becoming a single trade
group, and they're adding more and more countries to that bloc every
year--here you see protectionist voices arising. And the only thing they
would achieve, if they were to prosper, would be to condemn North
America as a region to complete backwardness in today's world. And that
is the worst possible solution you can provide to your citizens.
It is not my role to talk to the three candidates or precandidates
to the Presidency. I'm very respectful of the domestic politics of this
country. This is a decision that is solely in the hands of U.S.
citizens. And for that reason, I must respect that process completely.
It is not my role to talk to any candidates or precandidates. All I
would do is speak to the person who will eventually be the President of
the United States. And we will speak openly and sincerely about the
future of both of our countries or, in this case, our three countries in
the trilateral meetings that we hold.
But Mexico will have a respectful relationship with the next
President of the United States and will always seek the prosperity of
our nations, knowing that through free trade, we have a clear, open, and
respectful relationship among all our countries that will achieve
prosperity.
If we want to solve common problems, if we want to solve problems
like security, problems like immigration, problems like economic growth
in the United States and in Mexico, we need to understand that only to
the extent that North America is more competitive as a region, only to
that extent will we be able to successfully face our problems.
Prime Minister Harper. We have been working with the current U.S.
administration. We've had a very productive relationship with President
Bush and his administration. And I trust that this will continue, that
it will continue with any of the Presidential candidates here in the
United States.
Of course, it's the United States who needs to make a decision about
this election. But I think that in the end, Canada really is confident
that the next President will also understand the importance of NAFTA and
the importance of the commercial relationship between the United States
and Canada. And I must emphasize that for energy security, the
commercial relationship between our two countries is even more important
today than it was 20 years ago. And I think this relationship will be
even more important in the future.
[Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]
----productive relationship with the current administration, and I
anticipate that Canada will have a very productive relationship with the
next administration, because I'm confident that when the facts are
looked at, any President, just as any Prime Minister of Canada, will
quickly conclude how critically important NAFTA and our North American/
Canadian-American trade relations are to jobs and prosperity on both
sides of our border and, in particular, the importance of energy
security that is a particularly critical part of the NAFTA arrangement.
Canada is the biggest and most stable supplier of energy to the
United States in the world. That energy security is more important now
than it was 20 years ago, when NAFTA was negotiated, and will be even
more important in the future.
Mexican Government
Q. Yes, good afternoon. I'd like to ask a domestic question but hear
from Mexico. President Calderon, I'd like to ask your ideas about the
situation in our Congress and also the spot that was presented lately
[[Page 553]]
on the statements made by Mr. Lopez Obrador and comparisons with Hitler
and Mussolini. What is your opinion of this? And do you think that this
helps the unity you've always called for among Mexicans, with regard to
the presentation of the bill on energy in our Mexican Congress?
President Calderon Hinojosa. This kind of attitude can only be
compared to the people who are making it. Congress is working normally.
There is a responsible attitude on the part of most of the political
parties represented therein. People from the PRI, the PAN, the Green
Party, the New Alliance, other political parties are working firmly. And
I simply deplore this attitude, which only impoverishes the image of
those behind it and weakens even more the presence of Mexicans from
parties as important as the PRD, which, aside from their own internal
crisis, are losing their public image because of the activities of
people who simply make them look ridiculous.
I hope that our institutional life will be strengthened and that we
strengthen dialogue and the capacity for talking among ourselves.
This issue that you referred to is already in the hands of the
authorities. And I'm sure that a new electoral authority, like the IFE,
will make a decision according to what it seems--it deems fit based on
those TV spots you referred to.
Canadian Campaign Finance Regulations
Q. Prime Minister, if you would respond in both official languages:
Canadians have seen the RCMP visit to your party headquarters, they've
heard the allegations from Elections Canada, and they're wondering
what's going on. Did you know about this scheme, and will you practice
it again in the next election?
Prime Minister Harper. Well, this is the same story as before. As
you know, Elections Canada view is that some of our local spending
should count as national spending. We have a different view. We looked
into this at the time, and that's the view we've taken.
Our position is always that we always follow the law as we
understand it, and, more importantly, we always follow the law as it has
been interpreted. We were following, in the last election, the
interpretations that had been put on that law in the past. If those
interpretations change, we'll, of course, conform, but we will expect
the same rules for every single party.
[Prime Minister Harper continued in French, and his remarks were
translated as follows.]
And as I just said, it's always the same thing in this for quite
awhile. Elections Canada think that some of our local expenditures
should at--should be considered as national expenses. But we do not
agree with that, and that's why we went to court with this issue. And in
the end, we will respect the law and the interpretations of the law as
they are, as we have done in the past.
Price of Gasoline/Energy/U.S. Economy
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Oil prices today rose above $118 a
barrel. It's another record. Are Saudi Arabia and other oil producers,
are they our adversaries, or have you had any success with your recent
appeals with them? And also, the effect of the gasoline prices, isn't
that about to erase or certainly erode the benefit of the economic
stimulus package?
President Bush. Yes, no question, rising gasoline prices are like a
tax on our working people. And what's happening is, is that we've had an
energy policy that neglected hydrocarbons in the United States for a
long period of time, and now we're paying the price. We should have been
exploring for oil and gas in ANWR, for example. But no, we made the
decision: Our Congress kept preventing us from opening up new areas to
explore in environmentally friendly ways, and now we're becoming, as a
result, more and more dependent on foreign
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sources of oil. Fortunately, Canada and Mexico are our biggest
providers, for which we are grateful. But our energy policy is--wasn't
effective over the past decades, and now we're paying the price.
And secondly, there's not a lot of excess capacity in the world. As
a matter of fact, unfortunately, a lot of the supplies are coming from
parts of the world where there's political instability. Fortunately,
again, Canada and Mexico are not included in that group. There are some
countries that are not reinvesting in their reserves, which decline
without maintenance.
And so I'm obviously concerned for our consumers. All the more
reason to have passed a rebate, tax relief, and all the more reason for
the United States Congress to keep the tax relief I passed permanent. We
got people out there campaigning: ``Well, we're just going to tax the
rich.'' You can't raise enough money to meet their spending appetites by
taxing the so-called rich. Every one of those so-called tax-the-rich
schemes end up taxing the middle class families. And in a time of
economic uncertainty, we need tax certainty. In a time of rising
gasoline prices, we need to be sending a message to all Americans: We're
not going to raise your taxes.
Global Economy/Colombia
Q. Good afternoon, gentlemen. For President Bush, how deep and how
long will the economic recession be in the United States, and how will
it affect Mexico?
And what is your perspective, Mr. President, of the reform presented
by President Calderon in Mexico?
And for all three of you, what's the security context that exists
with regard to what's happening to NAFTA and the FTA with Colombia after
Colombia carried out a military invasion in Ecuador?
President Bush. First of all, I--we're not in a recession, we're in
a slowdown. We grew in the fourth quarter of last year. We haven't had
first-quarter growth statistics yet, but there's no question, we're in a
slowdown. And yes, people are concerned about it, obviously. I'm--of all
the three of us standing up here, I'm probably the most concerned about
the slowdown. After all, it's affecting the people who I have the honor
of representing.
That's why we passed, in working with the Congress, a significant
progrowth economic package that will pass back rebates to our citizens,
starting in the second week of May. Part of that package also included
incentives for large and small businesses to invest in the year 2008. I
think this is going to have a positive effect on the economy. Experts
say it's going to have a positive effect on the economy. And so we'll
see what happens there. The key is for Congress not to raise taxes
during this period of time and send a signal that they're not going to
raise taxes.
You know, the President is plenty capable of handling reform. She's
a--he's a good, honest man who cares deeply about the people of Mexico.
And he'll do what he thinks is right for the country of Mexico.
And in terms of President Uribe, we
got no better friend in South America than President Uribe. He believes
strongly in rule of law. He's a reformer, and he's working hard to
protect his country from a bunch of narcotraffickers who murder innocent
people to achieve their objectives. And he ought to have our support. He
has the support of the United States of America in many ways, but if we
don't agree to a free trade agreement that we honest--negotiated in good
faith with them, it will undermine his efforts, and it will destabilize
parts of the world. And it would be a big mistake for the Congress to
turn its back on Colombia.
President Calderon Hinojosa. I simply want to stress the measures
Mexico is adopting before this situation--this slowdown of economic
growth in the United States, which obviously affects us. More than 82
percent of our exports go to the
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United States, and we're adopting a number of measures. One of them is a
very aggressive program for public expenditure and infrastructure, not
just private spending. To give you an idea, Mexico is going from
spending 3 percentage points of the GDP per year on infrastructure to
over 5\1/2\ percent of the GDP on infrastructure.
We're talking about Mexico this year having expenses for
infrastructural programs of about $500 billion for private-public
programs. That's already showing up in the figures of the first quarter
of the year.
We're also working on an anticyclic program with very aggressive tax
stimulus package for investment in the poorest regions of Mexico, where
whoever invests there will get a 100-percent deduction on all
investments, and the Federal Government, for a year and a half, will pay
all expenses associated with social security, with labor--all the labor
costs associated with social security. And that's a very, very strong
stimulus package.
The first data coming in indicates that for Mexico, our economic
activity had 4.25-percent growth rate per year. The figures for February
and March indicate that industrial activity continues to show about 4
percent growth. So it's a difficult time because of the enormous
interconnection among our economies, but we are prepared to face the
situation and at a slower place than the one we've had in the past. But
we are dealing with the situation. We are moving with everything at the
Government's disposal to accelerate the growth of the Mexican economy.
I hope that this situation will not continue for very long and that
soon the authorities in the United States will be able to completely
overcome the situation. I think that the steps taken so far by the
fiscal tax monetary authorities in the United States and the Bush
administration--and in general--have been appropriate. They have been
the right measures, and we hope that they will very soon demonstrate
effects so that we have a quick recovery among all our economies.
Prime Minister Harper. I would just say that in spite of a slowdown
of the economy in Canada, the bases of our economy are stable and solid.
And we have undertaken measures to ensure the continuous growth in the
future.
Now, as far as the Colombia situation is concerned, Canada has
negotiated a free trade agreement with Colombia. And it's important also
for the United States and for Mexico to benefit from free trade avec
Colombia.
Last year, in the summit, I said that Colombia can have drug
trafficking with our countries without a free trade agreement, but if
you want legitimate business for all our economies, we need to pursue
free trade agreements with Colombia. And I said in New York a few months
ago that I worry if the United States in the end refuses this agreement
with Colombia.
We have important alliance in Colombia. Colombia is fighting against
political violence, against the FARC. They fight against drug
traffickers. And I think that a rejection of or turning our backs to
such an ally as Colombia is--could create long-term problems for our
countries in South America.
[Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]
----free trade agreement to have drug trade with Colombia. You're
going to have that anyway. If you want to have legitimate trade and see
that country progress economically, we need to have a free trade
agreement. We need to have a trade agreement with countries like
Colombia.
And I do worry that if the Colombian free trade agreement is
rejected, particularly when that country has taken a lot of efforts to
fight political violence and corruption and FARC and drug traffickers,
if the United States and our allies turn their back on an important ally
in this region,
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that that will have long-term security consequences for all of our
countries in North America. So that does worry the Government of Canada.
Trade/Canada-U.S. Relations
Q. If you will allow me, I want to go back to NAFTA. NAFTA is in
place for almost 15 years now. Wouldn't it be possible to improve
things, perhaps, through renegotiating certain things on NAFTA? Mr.
Harper, American President say there's no--we should not renegotiate
NAFTA; President Bush says we should not renegotiate. What do you think,
Minister?
Prime Minister Harper. We would be ready to do anything that any of
our partners wants to do. If one of our partners wants to negotiate
NAFTA, we'll do--we'll renegotiate. But this is not the position that we
prefer--the Government of Canada. We have an agreement that worked well,
that created jobs--lots of jobs in this continent, and I think that the
business community is unanimous about the benefits of this agreement.
And I think that the problems that exist really call us to really,
perhaps, improve or deepen NAFTA even more. And the problems also
justify that we do what we need to do to have trade that works better
than it does now. But the right priority is not to renegotiate something
that has been decided. This is not the great challenge that we have.
When we meet with businessmen and businesswomen, this is not their
concern--their main concern. Their concern is in the future, not
renegotiating the past. But Canada will always be ready to any
possibilities that may happen.
As I said, we have a very dynamic relationship with--relations with
the United States. We are the first--or the greatest exporter of energy
products towards the United States. And for the United States, we are
the main source of energy security for the United States. And we think
that now it's even more important--this relation is even more important
now than it was 20 years ago, and it will be more important even in the
future. So if we have to discuss these possibilities, we'll be in a good
position, but we would prefer to talk about the future than the past.
[Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]
I just said before, we'll be prepared for any possibility. The
American people are going to make a decision. The future American
administration may have a different view. I can just tell you, when I
meet businesspeople not just from our country but from around the
continent, the benefits of our NAFTA relationship are without question.
And what all the focus is in our discussions is how to make it work
better, how to make the borders thinner, how to make commerce flow more
quickly, more freely. That's--how to make our relationship more
integrated and deeper--those are the real concerns that I experience in
Canada and when I deal with people who are focused on economic
development in our trade partners' economies.
But look, as I said, we'll be prepared for any eventuality. Canada
is the United States number-one supplier of energy. And we are a secure
and stable supplier. That is of critical importance to the future of the
United States. And if we had to look at this kind of an option, I think,
quite frankly, we would be in even stronger position now than we were 20
years ago, and we'll be in a stronger position in the future. But my
preference is not to renegotiate what we discussed in the past; it's to
talk about the future. And I think that's what our respective--that's
what, at least, the Canadian population wants us to do.
President Bush. Thank you, sir. Good job, Stephen.
Note: The President's news conference began at 11:31 a.m. at Gallier
Hall. In his
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remarks, President Bush referred to President Alvaro Uribe Velez of
Colombia. President Calderon referred to Secretary of Economy Eduardo
Sojo Garza-Aldape of Mexico. Prime Minister Harper referred to his wife
Laureen. A reporter referred to former Mexican Presidential candidate
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. President Calderon spoke in Spanish, and
his remarks were translated by an interpreter. Portions of Prime
Minister Harper's remarks were in French, and an English translation was
provided. Some reporters spoke in Spanish and French, and their remarks
were translated by interpreters. The Office of the Press Secretary also
released a Spanish language transcript of this news conference.