[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 42 (Monday, October 20, 1997)]
[Pages 1568-1580]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Cardoso in Brasilia

October 14, 1997

    President Cardoso. Mr. President of the United States of America, 
William Clinton, ladies and gentlemen. May I say to you first what a 
pleasure it is, Mr. President, for me and for Ruth, my wife, to welcome 
both you and Mrs. Clinton. And I'd like to take advantage of this 
opportunity to state our pleasure and, I'm quite sure, the pleasure of 
the Brazilian people as a whole. This is particularly due to the 
excellent relations between the two of us, which I think makes it 
obvious to everyone that there is a friendship that joins these two 
Presidents and that we share a great many interests--and by ``we,'' I 
mean our two peoples.
    On both sides, we are interested in ensuring that we will draw 
closer together and bring our societies closer together as well in very 
practical ways. We've had a number of opportunities in which to chat. 
We've covered, I think, just about every problem that was on our agenda 
before this meeting, including the most general problems, such as peace 
throughout the world; including the possibility of working together in a 
number of situations which might require more direct action on the part 
of the United States or Brazil--not just in our region, of course, but 
also views were exchanged, opinions were exchanged about a number of 
international problems as well. And I can assure you that we both agree 
with regard to the overall objective, which is to increase the 
prosperity of peoples on the Earth as a whole.
    It is also our conviction that prosperity is something that needs to 
be made a general phenomenon. The prosperity of one nation should not 
harm the prosperity of any other nation, and nothing leads us to believe 
this. On the contrary, we feel that what's good for Brazil is good for 
the United States, and what's good for the United States is good for 
Brazil as well.
    Just in terms of commercial relations, for example, the United 
States is our number one trading partner. But Brazil, as we like to say, 
is also a major global trader. We have excellent relations with the 
MERCOSUR countries, other countries in Latin America, with Europe and 
Asia, not to mention Africa. And it is with a full

understanding of the comprehensive nature, the global nature of our 
relationships that we, in turn, have been able to reach a closer 
relationship.

    We have underscored our commitment to the sort of endeavor that we 
have embarked upon, for example, in MERCOSUR, which

[[Page 1569]]

is a very important part of our foreign policy in Brazil, which we feel 
to be an example of the success of the work of these four countries--
Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina--and now Chile as well.
    Much agreement has been reached with regard to trade, democracy, 
keeping peace. And we also believe that by working together we can move 
towards the integration of the Americas as a whole in such a way as to 
avoid harming our MERCOSUR interests and in such a way as to avoid 
harming the interests of the NAFTA countries. But we should integrate 
the hemisphere as a whole in line with the view that has already been 
expressed just a moment ago--in other words, prosperity for all is best 
for each and every one.
    On the other hand, it also became quite clear that we agree on a 
number of other issues, even at a personal level. For example, our take 
on problems is quite similar in our two countries. An example of that 
fact can be seen via the declaration that we are now signing in the area 
of education, one of the social area endeavors. I was extremely pleased 
when I heard President Clinton's State of the Union Address because he 
spoke about education and what he said certainly made me feel quite 
enthusiastic. What he said moved us. As a former professor and as two 
human beings, I'm sure that we agree that education is an instrument 
which will allow us to equalize relations within a society and to do 
away with so many of the differences and asymmetries that can exist 
among countries as well.
    In this meeting, we would like to reaffirm our full commitment to 
all the programs in the educational field as a symbol of our concern 
vis-a-vis social issues. The integration that we are seeking to pursue 
at the regional, sub-regional, and even at a broader level, as soon as 
that becomes timely, is going to be integration that will exclude no 
countries, no fragments within countries, either. Integration is 
designed to improve the standard of living of the peoples who integrate.
    Another thing that we can go over is a list of key issues that have 
to do with, for example, the climate change. President Clinton, for 
example, holds the view that I think is quite proper vis-a-vis climate 
change. He talks about shared responsibility. He talks about the fact 
that responsibility should exclude no segment of humanity

because the climate is something that involves the preservation of the 
conditions of life for future generations throughout the planet. So, we 
must come up with mechanisms which will allow us to reduce the greenhouse 
gas effect. We should reduce the greenhouse gases, but in such a way as to 
ensure that we're not harming the interests or the development of any 
country--the United States, Brazil, or developing countries. These things 
should be done in a balanced way to ensure that we will solve the problems 
and do so in the best way for our countries, which is what we're going to 
try to do in Kyoto in December.

    Another thing that we're doing is broadening our cooperation in the 
field of space studies in a clear demonstration of the number of 
possibilities that exist for cooperation between Brazil and the United 
States, certainly in terms of advanced technology.
    I don't want to take up too much time, but may I reaffirm the fact 
that--very simply, because we did cover such a broad range of topics--
the fact that we avoided no single topic is a clear sign that we can 
reach an understanding even upon those things that we have some slight 
misunderstanding on. And of course, misunderstandings usually just 
reflect the interests of our individual countries that we, of course, 
must defend properly, but at the same time in a way which shows that we 
have an old friendship, a long-term friendship, and this friendship 
allows us to deal with these issues in such a way.
    I'd like to repeat something I said in the Planalto Palace. Since 
the Second World War, never have we seen so many possibilities for 
cooperation in so many broad fields--certainly nothing compared to the 
many opportunities that are opening up for Brazil and the United States 
right now, which is why I'm particularly pleased to speak via the media 
to the peoples of our countries to reaffirm the tremendous satisfaction 
that I feel in being able to welcome this great President, Bill Clinton, 
in our country.
    Thank you so much.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Let me begin 
by thanking you and Mrs. Cardoso and the representatives of your 
Government for the warm welcome you

[[Page 1570]]

have given to us, including our very large delegation, the senior 
members of our administration, a big percentage of our Cabinet, and the 
distinguished delegation from Congress. We are delighted to be here.
    I believe this visit marks a new phase in the long friendship 
between the United States and Brazil. This is clearly a unique moment of 
opportunity in the Americas. A quiet revolution is bringing our 
hemisphere together around common values of democracy, free markets, 
mutual respect, and cooperation. It gives us the opportunity to advance 
the welfare, the freedom, and the security of all of our people in a way 
that has not been possible before.
    Because we have the largest economies and the most diverse 
populations in the hemisphere, Brazil and the United States have both a 
special ability and a special responsibility to help lead the Americas 
into the 21st century. Under President Cardoso's leadership, Brazil 
clearly is meeting that challenge in fulfilling its destiny as a great 
nation. Through your own remarkable economic reforms, your strategic 
partnership with Argentina, your leadership in MERCOSUR and throughout 
the hemisphere and increasingly on the wider international stage, Brazil 
has helped to consolidate peace and democracy and to promote prosperity 
and stability.
    Brazil and the United States share a fundamental belief that opening 
the markets of our hemisphere to trade and investment is the best way to 
create good jobs and strengthen democracy and cooperation in all our 
countries. Three years ago, when we met at the Summit of the Americas in 
Miami, we pledged to pursue a free-trade area of the Americas by early 
in the next century. Today, the President and I agreed that at the next 
Summit of the Americas in Santiago, we should launch comprehensive and 
balanced negotiations to achieve that goal, turning our common agenda 
into a common plan of action.
    If I might, I'd like to just speak a moment about what I think has 
been the cause of some misunderstanding between our two countries, which 
is the question of what the American attitude toward MERCOSUR is and 
what its relationship to our support for a free trade area of the 
Americas is.
    I support MERCOSUR. I think it has been a good thing for Brazil, a 
good thing for all the member nations, a good thing for stability, for 
growth and cooperation in the region, and quite a good thing for the 
United States. Our exports to the MERCOSUR countries have grown 
substantially since 1991. And we believe that these sort of regional 
trade arrangements everywhere--if they serve to open borders, to 
increase economic activities, and to promote growth--promote stability 
and opportunity that benefit Americans.
    We believe that we can create a free-trade area of the Americas 
consistent with MERCOSUR and the leadership and role of Brazil and the 
other members in it. And so to me, this is a false choice that we don't 
intend to ask the Brazilians, the Argentineans, or the other members of 
MERCOSUR to make. We believe we can build on this and go forward to a 
free-trade area of the Americas.
    Trade has produced about a third of the economic growth the United 
States has enjoyed since I became President in January of 1993. And I'm 
working hard to continue to expand our capacity to trade and to create 
good high-wage jobs in our own country by securing the Presidential 
negotiating authority necessary to tear down more of the trade barriers 
of the past so that we can open wider the doors of the future to good 
jobs and higher incomes.
    Now, let me say that as we promote more free markets and more free 
trade, I believe that all of us must work harder to extend their 
benefits to all citizens. No great democracy has succeeded in doing that 
so far. We know we have to begin by ensuring that all of our citizens 
receive the education and training they need to succeed in this new 
economy. And I applaud the President's emphasis on education.
    The education declaration we have just signed focuses on what I 
believe the keys to making education work in both our countries are: 
first, high standards for what children must learn and testing to 
measure their progress; second, training our teachers so that those to 
whom we entrust our children's future are themselves well-prepared; 
third, intensive parent and community involvement; and fourthly, 
something the President

[[Page 1571]]

has worked very hard on, access to technology to realize the 
possibilities of the information age for all of our children.
    In the United States, we're working hard to make sure that every 
classroom and library in our country is hooked up to Internet by the 
year 2000. We're giving discounted rates to our schools so that they can 
afford to be on the Internet. And we are finding something I

am certain will be the experience in Brazil as well, and that is that very 
often the largest benefit of this technology revolution will flow to the 
children who are most in need, who tend to be in isolated rural or urban 
school districts where they have not had the chances and the opportunities 
many of our other children have. So I think that the Internet can be an 
instrument by which we democratize as well as increase the excellence of 
educational opportunity.

    We've also agreed that we can't have today's progress at tomorrow's 
expense. The President talked a little bit about our common commitment 
to the environment. The clean energy agreement we have signed will help 
Brazil to continue to grow, fueled by renewable and efficient energy 
technologies. Our park services will work together to protect wetlands 
like the Everglades and the Pantanal Park in Brazil. We share Brazil's 
determination to conserve the Amazon, one of the most wondrous and 
biologically diverse environmental habitats in the world. The United 
States will contribute another $10 million to the G-7's cooperative 
program with Brazil to sustain the rainforests. And we will help Brazil 
to put 21st-century technology into this effort, including research done 
by Brazilians in space. The fires throughout the Amazon have added 
urgency to these efforts, and the uncertainties about the climatic 
effects of this El Nino, both in South America and in the United States, 
have also added urgency to our efforts.
    We did, as the President said, discuss the challenge of climate 
change. Five years ago in Rio, the world community began to chart a 
common course to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global 
warming. Developed countries have a special responsibility to lead. I 
told President Cardoso that the United States will meet that 
responsibility with a commitment to limit our emissions when we meet in 
Kyoto on December 6th. But as we do our part, I believe so, too, must 
the developing world. Climate change, after all, is a global problem 
that requires a global solution.
    So here is the question, it seems to me--and I would like to talk a 
little about this because I think it's quite important--I think it's 
very important that the people of Brazil understand that just as with 
the trade issue and MERCOSUR, the United States would never knowingly 
make any suggestion that would undermine the growth of Brazil or any 
other country. It is not in our interest. We, after all, only have 4 
percent of world's people. We enjoy a very high standard living. We can 
only maintain our own standard of living if you grow. If there are more 
good jobs for Brazilians, higher

incomes, more people are brought into the social compact in this country, 
then you can be a stronger partner, not only for us but for your neighbors 
in this continent and throughout the world.

    So our strategy is to aggressively support the growth of the 
emerging economies of the world, the strength of their democracies, and 
our capacity to cooperate together. I do not believe that any reasonable 
person can look at the world of today and imagine the world of tomorrow 
and believe that America can gain by someone else's economic loss. We 
have an interest in finding a way to grow together.
    By the same token, the world will not gain if some countries limit 
their greenhouse gas emissions and other countries grow in the same old 
way with the same old energy base so that the climate continues to warm 
more rapidly than it has at any time in the last 10,000 years. So what 
we want to do is to find a way for the developing countries to fulfill 
their responsibilities within the framework of Kyoto, recognizing that 
those of us in developed countries must do more but that we must all 
participate. And we want to be very explicit that any participation on 
your part would not come at the expense of economic growth.
    Developing nations have an opportunity to chart a different energy 
future than some of the developed countries. And if we share our 
technology and we share our knowledge,

[[Page 1572]]

then we can achieve that. This is very important. Brazil has already 
gone a long way toward proving this point, because you have developed so 
many nontraditional fuels, biologically based fuels, for running your 
vehicles. So you have given evidence to the general point that I hope 
will be embraced by all the countries of the developing world. And I 
encourage that.
    Finally, let me say, we talked about expanding our cooperation in 
regional and global security. And I want to say a word of appreciation 
to Brazil as the guarantor of the Peru-Ecuador peace process, and 
appreciation for its historic decision to join the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty and to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In 
all these actions, Brazil has taken its place as a world leader for 
peace and security.
    Today the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty we signed will help us to 
crack down on drug production and trafficking, and fight transnational 
crime in a way that benefits all of our people.
    President Cardoso said 2 years ago when he visited me at the White 
House--and I quote--``The vocation of Brazil and the United States is to 
stand together.'' I believe we stand together today as never before. The 
issues we face are central to the well-being of both our peoples. The 
fate of our hemisphere, with strong democracies, a commitment to fight 
crime and drugs, to work for lasting peace, the future of the new 
economy, preparing our people for the 21st century--that's what this 
trip is all about. These are all objectives we share, and they really 
matter to ordinary citizens in both our nations and throughout this 
hemisphere.
    Thank you.
    President Cardoso. President Clinton, I'd like to ask you to begin, 
if you don't mind.

1996 Campaign Finance Inquiry

    Q. Mr. President, Attorney General Reno has made her decision and 
will extend her inquiry into your telephone fundraising to determine 
whether a special counsel should be named. How do you feel about that 
hanging over you for another 60 days at least?
    President Clinton. I feel nothing about it. There is a law, and 
there are facts. And I feel that it would be much better if she were 
permitted to do her job. I know I didn't do anything wrong. I did 
everything I could to comply with the law. I feel good about it. But I 
told you yesterday, the thing I don't feel good about is the overt, 
explicit, overbearing attempt to politicize this whole process and to 
put pressure on more than one actor in it. That's wrong. There's a law. 
There's a fact-finding process. And I'm going to cooperate with it in 
every way I possibly can.

Brazil-U.S. Trade Strategies

    Q. Mr. Clinton, will the recent--[inaudible]--between the European 
Union and MERCOSUR affect how you formulate your strategy for commerce 
in the Americas?
    And for President Fernando Henrique, the question is, what is the 
relative importance of Europe as far as Brazil's commercial strategy or 
trade strategies concerned, especially vis-a-vis the United States?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, if I were in Brazil I would 
be trying to sell as much as I could to America and to Europe. I think 
that's the way this market works. Both the European Union and the United 
States have increased our exports to Brazil and to the MERCOSUR 
countries in the last few years markedly. So I don't feel threatened by 
it, I just want to make sure we're fully competing. And if we don't 
fully compete, it will be our fault, not yours and not Europe's.
    That's one of the reasons that I'm seeking the fast-track authority. 
It's up to the United States to decide whether it's going to be a fully 
competitive nation, but we have--in the last 2 years, for the first time 
in a long time, more than half our new jobs have come in the higher wage 
categories. And it's the direct result of our aggressive pursuit of 
trade opportunities.
    So I'm prepared to compete, and all I want is a fair chance to 
compete with the Europeans here or anywhere else. But I don't see that 
as a bad thing. If I were in your position, I'd be trying to sell more 
to everybody.
    President Cardoso. Well, I believe that what President Clinton said 
is most helpful to us. The more competition we have between the United 
States and Europe for trade, the better it is for us because it makes

[[Page 1573]]

our products much cheaper. So I agree with President Clinton. It is true 
that Brazil's number one individual client is the United States today. 
But the European Union as a whole, or taken as a whole, imports and 
exports a bit more than the United States, actually. We are now, as I 
said before and I'm going to repeat this, global traders. We actually 
trade with a number of countries and areas throughout the world and 
we're very interested in increasing these trade flows.
    With regard to the United States, we have increased such trade 
flows. Unfortunately, we have an increasing trade deficit as a result of 
the increased trade with the United States. So we have to review this 
situation and try to balance it better to the benefit of both. We want 
to increase imports and exports. We don't want a zero-sum game, and we 
don't want a game in which one loses and the other wins. We want a win-
win situation in the trade arena.
    That is why we say that our trade policy with Europe is very active. 
It will continue to be very active. But I agree wholeheartedly with 
President Clinton--we cannot think about such economic blocs as isolated 
fortresses. They have been designed to increase trade, and

we're going to take advantage of every opportunity that we can find to 
intensify our trade abroad, to sell things abroad. We will do so whenever 
we can. We're not going to close off our economy, because our 
competitiveness, our progress in the area of technology, and the cheapening 
of the products for our own people depend on such trade.

    Thank you.

Alternative Energy Sources

    Q. Mr. President, in Venezuela your discussions included alternative 
energy sources. Here you've also discussed safe or clean energy sources. 
I wonder, given that in the United States there is opportunity for 
improvement in the area of both energy incentives and also reducing the 
amount of emissions, do you find it difficult to discuss this topic 
while abroad?
    President Clinton. No, because I don't think the two things are 
inconsistent. I think we are under a real responsibility in the United 
States to do energy conversion. We were on that path, ironically, 20 
years ago when our experts underestimated the amount of natural gas 
reserves that would be available to us in the United States and 
throughout the world. And we thought we could move to a clean coal 
technology and do the job. We now know that that decision was not 
accurate. But the people who made the decisions 20 years ago did it 
based on the best evidence they had at the time.
    So I think we're going to have more reliance on natural gas and 
other forms of energy that are even cleaner. And we have to do more 
conservation. If you were there at the climate change conference we had 
at Georgetown a couple of weeks ago, we learned, among other things, 
that two-thirds of all the heat generated in the production of 
electricity is wasted. If we can recover half of that waste heat, we 
will generate enormous new capacity for growth without adding one single 
pollutant in the form of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. So we've 
got a lot to do on our own account.
    But as I said--let me reiterate what I said. What I want to do is to 
try to help the developing countries grow their economy just as fast as 
would otherwise be the case, but chart a different energy future than 
the one we charted in the past when we were at the same stage of 
development. And the question is, can they do that? I think it's 
absolutely clear, crystal clear, that they can.
    And this is a big problem. In China today, bronchial disease is, 
among children, the number one health problem for kids in the

country already. So I want the Chinese economy to grow and the Chinese 
people to prosper, but I think they should choose a different energy course 
for the same growth. And I think they can and we should be trying to help 
them. If we don't do it, then no matter what we in the developed countries 
do, within 30 to 40 years we'll be right back in the same pickle we're in 
today, except worse.

Brazil-U.S. Trade Strategies

    Q. I have two questions for both Presidents. For President Clinton, 
since 1995 both governments have worked on the bilateral trade with you, 
but so far they have no concrete results. And the perception is that 
Brazil is still complaining about trade barriers

[[Page 1574]]

and better access to the U.S. market. So I'd like to know if both 
Presidents have now a new orientation toward a new phase in the trade 
bilateral relationship.
    For President Fernando Henrique, my question is, if there is no 
fast-track authority, if this is not granted, would Brazil be willing to 
negotiate--if there is no fast track, do you believe that there will be 
any continuity in the negotiations of FTAA? And if there isn't, would 
MERCOSUR take on this role, in other words, the role of the principal 
protagonist in terms of trade in the region?
    President Cardoso. I don't want to make any bets on American policy. 
If there is going to be this sort of a policy or not is the United 
States' problem. I think that President Clinton is going to be in a 
position to get the fast-track authority he wants.
    But integration, whether we're talking about integration throughout 
the hemisphere or MERCOSUR, are two processes that are very interesting 
to our economies, quite aside from any political issues, which will 
simply decide the speed at which such issues are decided. So what 
President Clinton said was crystal clear when he talked about his view 
of MERCOSUR and FTAA. He said there is no clash between the two, there 
is no opposition. There is simply a situation, and we have to give 
ourselves enough time so that we will be in a position to prepare for 
increased competition. It's just a matter of time, procedures, so that 
we will be in a position to participate fully in conversations and 
understandings.
    So with or without a fast-track authority, the question is, is it 
good or bad for us to increase international trade? And the answer is 
always the same--it's always good to increase international trade. So I 
would say that the other factors are just conditioning factors, but the 
key objectives are out there and they're unchanging.
    We will continue to work to our utmost to consolidate MERCOSUR, but 
simultaneously to work on the FTAA. We signed an agreement in Miami--I 
didn't sign it myself personally, but I was just the President-elect, 
but President Clinton was kind enough to ask me to come and observe. And 
this is not just a commitment on paper. It's a real commitment--we 
really want to increase our trade foundation.
    Now, people are talking about the United States, Europe, and so 
forth--trade is trade. We have to look at things one question at a time, 
how we're going to deal with the interests that are being affected, how 
can we build bridges in such a way as to benefit the parties involved. 
All of this involves a long construction process.
    President Clinton. Let me say, first of all, I would only add to 
what the President said that I believe, and I think he believes, as 
well, that if we can proceed with this free trade area of the Americas, 
it's also a way of stabilizing the democratic governments of many 
smaller countries in our hemisphere and giving them some assurance that, 
if they stay with democracy and reform, their people will also be able 
to reap some economic benefit from it.
    So I think it is important that Brazil assume a leadership role in 
this fashioning of this whole agreement. And I hope they will, because I 
think what we're trying to do is to say, this is, first and foremost, 
about economics, but economics supports freedom and democracy and 
stability if we do it properly.
    Now, on the question you asked me, the trade question, let me just 
briefly say, we went over the specific trade issues that Brazil has with 
the United States and the specific trade issues the United States has 
with Brazil. And we--obviously, neither one of us are trade negotiators 
and these are somewhat specific and, in some cases, almost arcane issues 
involved, but what we did is we resolved that we would give both sides 
instruction that we want these matters resolved if at all possible and 
as quickly as possible. They're dragging on; they're an irritant to our 
relationship. And they're, in the context of our larger objective, a 
negative rather than a positive force, and we'd like to have them 
resolved. And that's basically the decision we made.

Attorney General Janet Reno

    Q. Mr. President, just to go back for a moment to Janet Reno and her 
investigation--I'm wondering if you can tell us, has this whole affair 
complicated your relationship with her and your

ability to actually function with your highest ranking law enforcement

[[Page 1575]]

official? For instance, do you find yourself not talking to her because 
you're hesitant to have too much contact with the Attorney General?

    President Clinton. Well, I don't really have anything to add to what 
I said yesterday about that. I think you all are perfectly capable of 
drawing your own conclusions and evaluating whether this puts our 
political system in balance or out of balance, and I don't think that we 
should discuss it here.
    The most important thing is we've got a law; we've got a fact-
finding process. The fact-finding process should proceed with integrity. 
The law should be implemented without pressure either way. I am doing my 
part. I wish others were doing as well.

Brazil-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. Fernando Henrique, I hope you don't mind if I ask Mr. Clinton 
the question. Mr. President, your visit was preceded by diplomatic 
turmoil. A document was disseminated that said that Brazilian corruption 
was endemic. This was commented on by the American Ambassador, and his 
comments made things worse. The head of the Supreme Tribunal, the 
superior court in Brazil, reacted badly, as did some other people in the 
federal government--even a Governor of the federal district. And they 
also reacted not just to this issue but to a number of other issues in 
which excess security was demanded by some of your advisers. Brazilian 
authorities called these people's attitude rather aggressive. Not only 
authorities but people as a whole in Brazil felt that they had been 
badly mistreated. I would like to know your view, sir. Do you think 
there was any exaggeration? Do you think there were any diplomatic 
mishaps in this situation?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, I became aware of this 
document and the characterization of Brazilian culture after it had been 
released. The document was wrong, and it represented an appalling error 
of judgment for anybody to write such a thing. It has been decisively 
rejected by every American authority, beginning with the Ambassador here 
now. And it has been excised from the document.
    So I regret very much that it happened, but once in a while such a 
thing may even happen in Brazil, where someone who works for some agency 
will put out something in printing which shouldn't happen. I can only 
ask the Brazilian people not to infer that that is

the feeling of either the Government or, more importantly, the people of 
the United States toward Brazil. I assure you that no Brazilian could have 
been any more upset about it than I was. I thought it was terrible, and I 
did everything I could to correct it.

    Now, in terms of the trip here, I just don't have enough facts to 
know. I know that our people historically, because of the problems that 
have periodically affected our Presidents--always on our own home turf, 
I might add, always when we're at home--that the security for an 
American President often seems to others to be too rigid and too 
uncompromising. But as I said, we've never had problems with our 
President's security in a foreign country. But we've had enough problems 
at home, over the last 35 years and before, that I hope you will at 
least understand that. But I try to make sure that our people are as 
understanding and cooperative with the people in every country and 
community they visit as possible, and I hope they have been. That's all 
I can say; I don't know the facts.

1996 Campaign Finance Inquiry

    Q. Sir, does it embarrass you when these questions about fundraising 
follow you on foreign trips, as they have on this one, or does it 
embarrass the country?
    President Clinton. Well, I can't be embarrassed by other people's 
judgment. I have no control over what you decide to ask about. That's 
your decision, not mine. That's a question you should ask somebody 
besides me. I didn't have anything to do with what was asked. I think 
other people sometimes in other countries wonder what it's all about, 
especially when everyone concedes that there was no request or improper 
public action in any way, nor did any occur as a result of whatever 
communications are in dispute.
    But that's a decision for you. You have to decide what questions 
you're going to ask. I can't be embarrassed about how you decide to do 
your job.

[[Page 1576]]

Brazil-U.S. Relations

    Q. I have a question that I want to ask both Presidents. People who 
monitor relations between Brazil and the United States feel that the 
problems that we have had most recently are often exacerbated by the 
bureaucracies of our two countries simply because there's not enough 
involvement of the Presidents and the leaders of the two countries. This 
is criticism that's been leveled against our countries. I wonder if you 
would agree?
    The United States has a difficulty, being a superpower, and the only 
superpower, to deal with an emerging power in the Americas that is 
asserting its leadership as a democracy, as a freer market. Former 
Secretary Kissinger told me recently that he believed that really you 
have to adapt, because you are not used to that; you have to adapt 
intellectually to that. I'd like you to talk about this issue. Does our 
emerging role bother Americans or the United States of America?
    President Cardoso. Well, at least as far as the Brazilian side is 
concerned, I was so very pleased because the touchiest issues are always 
being brought up for President Clinton. No one is asking me these touchy 
questions. I was so pleased up until now.
    However, my involvement and President Clinton's involvement can only 
be that of people who are involved at a very general level involving 
problems between our two countries. Of course, there are always going to 
be some sort of bureaucratic problems, but I'm quite sure that we can 
deal with them quite easily. I think bureaucratic problems and redtape 
dissolve as soon as people see the warmth of our warm and direct 
personal relations, which are much more important than any bureaucratic 
entanglement.
    Now, of course, we do understand fully that for security reasons, 
you do have some problems of your own. Luckily enough, we in Brazil 
don't have to face these major threats. It's not the case of every 
country. The United States particularly has had to face some very 
difficult situations. Of course, our security forces try to pay 
attention at all times in Brazil. But I'm always breaking the rules in 
Brazil, and so far nothing has ever happened. And things are very 
tranquil, and I'm sure they'll continue to be so in the future.
    But I'm quite sure that anything that comes up can be dealt with 
quite easily because of the warmth and the openness that President 
Clinton and Mrs. Clinton have shown to us in Brazil at all times. They 
have shown to all Brazilians that their trip is an open-hearted visit.
    President Clinton. I'd actually like to respond, if I might, to both 
your questions. Because the question you asked the President, I think 
the answer to your question is a lot of--people who work in government 
bureaucracies the world over are following established policies, and 
they tend to acquire an interest in maintaining the established 
policies, and most of them don't have the authority to change it, which 
is why these kind of personal

relationships are so important. Because it's our responsibility, if we want 
to change the direction of the country, not to blame the people who work 
for us--and particularly the people who may not even be political 
appointees, they work through from one administration to another--but to 
try to give different instructions, to send different messages down there.

    And that's why--sometimes I think, with all respect, sometimes 
members of the press and even our own publics say, well, why did they 
spend all that money and do that foreign trip, all the money we spent to 
come here, all the money you spent to entertain us--why did they do all 
that? There didn't seem to be any great earth-shaking specific 
agreement. And the main reason is the very thing you said, that we have 
to increase understanding, we have to increase sensitivity. And even 
subtle shifts in our position can send a different message to those down 
in the governmental hierarchies that have to implement these decisions 
on a daily basis. So I think that's a very good question.
    The second thing is, does the United States, at the end of the cold 
war, left as being the world's only superpower, feel threatened by the 
emergence of Brazil or any other country? The answer to that is, I 
actually support the emergence of countries to a greater role of 
influence and responsibilities, as long as they share our basic values--
not agree with us on everything but share our basic values.

[[Page 1577]]

    If they're committed to freedom and democracy, if they're committed 
to open trading systems, if they're committed to giving all their people 
a chance to participate in the wealth that the global economy generates, 
if they're committed to a responsible global approach on the 
environment, if they're committed to working with us against threats 
that cross national borders--terrorism, weapons proliferation, criminal 
syndicates, and drug trafficking--if they're committed to those things, 
then I don't see this as competition. I see this as people emerging to 
take on more responsibility. And if we work together, more good will 
happen.
    I'll give you another example. When I became President, there was 
the question of whether the United States would object if, in addition 
to NATO in Europe, there were an independent European security force 
working with NATO. And I made it clear from the beginning, I support 
this. I don't see these things as competing.
    We have to change, because most of the threats to nations in the 
years ahead will come not from other nations but from threats that cross 
national borders--guerrillas, terrorists, weapons proliferation,

drugs, crime, environmental and disease problems--number one. And because 
most of the benefits that nations can derive for their own people require 
them to cooperate with people beyond their borders, we will have to change 
our conception of how national power and influence is acquired. National 
power and influence is acquired, ironically, by becoming more 
interdependent and cooperative with others who are strong and self-
sufficient and self-reliant but need to be allied with you. And I do 
believe, frankly, that this will require a big change in the way people 
look at politics, not just in the United States but elsewhere.

1996 Campaign Finance Inquiry

    Q. Since you spoke yesterday on Air Force One, it's been reported 
that the White House and the Justice Department have been negotiating to 
figure out a way that you could speak to investigators about campaign 
finance. Have you reached such an agreement? And under what conditions 
would you speak to the Justice Department?
    President Clinton. I know nothing about that I didn't say yesterday. 
I literally--no one has talked to me about it, and I know nothing to add 
to what I said yesterday.

Trade Policy and International Relations

    Q. President Clinton, Mr. President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso, Brazil defends negotiations with the FTAA in complementation to 
tariff laws. Now, what complements are we talking about specifically as 
long as Brazil adheres to the calendar?
    And for President Bill Clinton, last night, Mr. Clinton, you said 
that you felt touched by Brazil and had felt touched by Brazil for over 
30 years. Have you been touched enough to say that you're going to give 
support to Brazil's candidacy on the Security Council so that Brazil 
will become a full member of the Group of Nine as well next year?
    President Cardoso. Okay, I'm going to break a couple of the rules 
here once again. Go ahead, one last additional question very, very 
quickly before we answer.
    Q. The United States Government wants that Brazil open the Brazilian 
market, but there are many restrictions against Brazilian products, like 
orange juice or steel. My question is, why not the U.S.A. don't change 
the situation, keep the situation and allow the free commerce for many 
Brazilian companies?
    Fernando Cardoso, I would like to know what the Brazilian 
Government's view on these nontariff barriers against a number of 
Brazilian products that are trying to get into the U.S. market.
    President Cardoso. All right, I'm going to begin by answering the 
question on the additional agreements or side agreements to the FTAA. I 
think that President Clinton talked about his views very clearly when he 
talked about the meaning of the overall proposal for hemisphere-wide 
integration. And he made his comments in a way that I think was quite 
proper. He said it's not just a matter of tariffs--I'm going to talk 
about the tariffs in a minute--but it's not just a matter of tariffs. 
It's a much broader concept that we're fighting for here, because we're 
talking about the fact that there are some political

[[Page 1578]]

considerations that come into play. And of course, political 
considerations are based on values: a common desire, a shared desire to 
keep the peace, to control drug trafficking, to avoid criminal 
activities on the international level or in the international sphere.
    So we're not just talking about trade here, so much so that what we 
proposed in the meetings that we've had thus far and that we're going to 
continue to have over the next few days, is that the key topic be 
education. And in Santiago, we're going to keep insisting on education 
as the key issue, because people can say, all right, very generously, 
let's talk about something that will move people, but that means that we 
have to talk about something that goes beyond tariffs. Tariffs, of 
course, are very important to countries and their economies and 
especially interesting to specialists. But countries have much more that 
they talk about and disagree with in the area of international relations 
aside from tariffs. And we have to talk about things that will bring our 
people closer together.
    Education is ideal because the basic tenet of education is equality, 
and I think that what President Clinton said here pretty much follows 
along the same line of thought. And we do not want to limit our 
relationship to issues that don't even require a meeting between 
Presidents because technical-level meetings will be enough; what we are 
here to express and symbolize is something far greater than this. It's 
the desire for democracy and greater equality. A country such as Brazil, 
that has no reason to hide its problems, especially our social problems, 
which are so great in nature, is in a position to want very much

to improve the standard of living of its people. Within MERCOSUR, outside 
of MERCOSUR, we're very interested in seeing that all agreements be broader 
in scope, just as President Clinton just said.

    So with regard to the specific issues that were brought up--you 
talked about steel and orange juice and footwear and--everywhere 
throughout Latin America where President Clinton goes, he's going to 
hear the same issues being brought up, and elsewhere as well, because 
the French, the Japanese, the British, they all have the same problems. 
To the degree that our countries move forward and progress, especially 
Brazil, where the industrial sector is growing rapidly, of course we're 
going to begin to compete and problems are going to crop up. And of 
course, some moment in time is going to require arbitration of some 
nature, which is not meant to be just political in nature. But the 
greater our understanding is, the better our possibilities will be of 
reaching an understanding as to these issues.
    Now, there are specific points on the agenda of demands of our two 
countries that neither one of us have really talked about them much. 
Some were brought up now, but we both know what they are. And when 
President Clinton goes back to the United States, people are going to 
ask him, ``Did they ask you about this, that, or the other?'' I'm not 
even going to mention what they are. He's going to say, ``Yes, I did 
talk to President Cardoso about it. What did he say? Well, President 
Cardoso said he's going to give utmost consideration to these issues.'' 
And that's what I'm going to say to you. We're both going to work hard 
to try to solve these issues.
    President Clinton. Let me say again, on balance, the United States 
has a lower tariff structure than virtually any country in the world, 
and fewer restrictions on trade than the European Union, for example. 
And I hope we can work these last remaining areas out. If you think 
about how big and complicated our countries are and the fact that we 
have now two-way trade in the neighborhood of $23 billion a year, the 
number of disputes is actually relatively small, and I'm encouraged by 
that.
    I'm not going to ignore the gentleman's clever question on the 
United Nations. First of all, you should know that today Brazil has been 
elected to a 2-year term on the Security Council. Congratulations, Mr. 
President, that's a very good thing for the United Nations, as well as 
for Brazil.
    The United States position has been that the Security Council ought 
to be expanded, that a permanent seat ought to be given to Latin 
America, and that the Latin American nations themselves should resolve 
how that permanent seat should be filled. This really is one of those 
areas where I don't think it's our place to tell the people of Latin 
America how to proceed here. I hope we will proceed

[[Page 1579]]

and give a permanent seat on the Security Council to Latin America, 
because I think that the actions of the last several years clearly 
warrant that. And again, that's another one of those questions like the 
gentleman who asked me about Brazil's emergence. The more there is a 
stable, constructive presence in global affairs presented by Latin 
America, the better off the world's going to be.

White House Communications Agency Videotapes

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President, and good afternoon. Based on your 
comments yesterday on Air Force One, sir, it would seem that you've been 
briefed on the videotapes that are soon to be released. What is your 
understanding of what's on them? And is there anything on them that 
causes you any concern?
    President Clinton. No, I think it's the same old stuff. As I said, 
those of you who have been going to the fundraisers with me, you've 
already seen it live so the replay will probably be boring for you. 
That's what I understand, and I'm not worried about it.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

    Q. Mr. President, most of our allies are already saying that--
[inaudible].
    President Clinton. I've not made a decision yet about what to do. 
But let me say this, I intend to take a strong position there, and I 
expect to probably be criticized by all sides. The United States, as our 
friends in Europe are well aware, is in a particularly difficult 
position when the benchmark is 1990, for three reasons.
    Number one, we've had economic growth since 1990 far greater than 
Europe, so our greenhouse gas emissions have gone up more, which means 
we have more to do to go down.
    Number two, the Europeans are--particularly if they're treated 
together--benefit from the incorporation of East Germany into Germany 
and the dramatic drop in production in East Germany, which had a high 
level of pollution. Therefore, they get a big reduction in pollution for 
something that--not because of any independent policy action taken but 
because of the incorporation of East Germany into Germany.
    And thirdly, the presence of the North Sea oil for Great Britain 
gave Britain the ability to sell the oil, which is relatively polluting, 
to other countries and keep the natural gas, which is quite clean, and 
substitute that for coal. So using the 1990 base mark, they have a lot 
of inherent advantages over the United States in terms of the degree of 
rigor required to meet any given target.
    Nonetheless, I think there's so much we can do through technology 
and different purchasing patterns and conservation patterns, that I 
think that we can do quite a great deal. And I intend to propose that we 
do a great deal. What I'm trying to do is to put together a 
comprehensive agreement in Kyoto that will actually do what everybody 
wants, which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere 
substantially in the next century.
    Right now we're at about double the volume of greenhouse gases in 
the atmosphere that existed before the dawn of the Industrial Age. If we 
don't do something, we'll triple the volume by the middle of the next 
century, and we know that something bad will happen. Even though the 
skeptics on the other side say we don't know exactly what and when, we 
know enough to know it's not going to be good, and we've seen enough 
evidence of that so far.
    So I'm going to have a credible plan. I'm going to do my best to get 
everybody involved in it. I hope I'll even have some success at

selling it to the Congress. Right now, it may be a lot easier to sell it to 
the environmentalists and to the business community than to sell it to the 
Congress, but I'll do my best.

Line Item Veto

    Q. Mr. President, have you decided against using your line item veto 
authority? And am I mistaken, or is this becoming habit forming?
    President Clinton. Well, it's not habit forming but, yes, I used it 
again today, as I told you yesterday I would, on I can't remember 
exactly how many projects, but more than a dozen worth more than $140 
million that were not either in my budget or recommended by the 
Department of Defense. I thought it was appropriate.

[[Page 1580]]

    I know that a lot of Members that voted for the line item veto in 
Congress now wonder whether they did the right thing, now that I'm 
exercising it. But I'd like to remind you that again I have deferred, in 
great measure, to Congress. Congress put in 750 projects not requested 
in our budget or in the Defense Department plan and reduced overall 
weapons procurement, reduced overall research and development to pay for 
virtually all of them.
    And I'm hoping that in the years ahead I won't be using it as much 
and future Presidents won't use it as much because it will lead to a 
different kind of negotiation in the budgeting process. But I think what 
I did today was responsible and quite restrained. And I believe that 
it's important to send a signal to the American people that we're going 
to stay on the budget track we started on and we're going to stay within 
these numbers and balance the budget. That's one of the things that's 
given us the big economy we've got.

Alternative Energy Sources

    President Cardoso. I'd like to thank all the Brazilian and American 
journalists for having joined us and for being so good about answering 
all our questions.
    And may I say that the emphasis that President Clinton has put on 
the environmental issue is one that I would like to bring up for Brazil 
as well. We have an energy matrix that is very, very clean. We use hydro 
power and now gas, natural gas. And we are strengthening our links with 
regard to the energy matrix throughout the rest of Latin America. So I 
think that our dialog in terms of climate has been extremely positive.
    Thank you to everyone.

Note: The President's 151st news conference began at 1:40 p.m. in the 
Garden of Alvorada Palace. President Cardoso spoke in Portuguese, and 
his remarks were translated by an interpreter. During the news 
conference, a reporter referred to former Secretary of State Henry 
Kissinger.