[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 2 (Monday, January 18, 1999)]
[Pages 35-36]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 9, 1999

    Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from Solidarity House in 
Detroit, Michigan, where, for more than half a century, the members of 
the United Auto Workers have led the fight to improve the lives of 
America's working families. I've come to America's industrial heartland 
to talk about what we must do to strengthen our workers and 
manufacturers for the 21st century.
    Over the past 6 years, we've created the longest peacetime economic 
expansion in American history, with 17.7 million new jobs, the lowest 
combined unemployment and inflation rate in more than 30 years, the 
highest homeownership ever. Wages are going up at all income levels, and 
finally, the rising tide of our economy is lifting all boats.
    But today, and in the years to come, America's prosperity depends 
upon the world's prosperity. In our new global economy, a financial 
crisis half a world away can be felt on factory floors here at home. For 
more than a year, a recession in other countries has forced them to cut 
imports of our goods--from cars to computers to jumbo jets--and to boost 
exports of their own products to our shores. After years of double-digit 
growth, U.S. manufacturing exports have slowed, and that's led to 
thousands of layoffs. These developments cause no small amount of 
concern.
    With millions of American jobs depending on foreign exports, we must 
help manufacturers find new markets and attract new customers for our 
goods overseas. That's why my next balanced budget will include a $108 
million initiative to spur nearly $2 billion in additional U.S. exports, 
which will sustain or create 16,000 high-wage American manufacturing 
jobs.
    We'll begin by boosting our support for our Import-Export Bank, 
which currently finances 10 percent of all U.S. capital equipment 
exports. For every dollar it spends, the bank generates some $16 in 
American exports. By expanding credit, we can foster billions of dollars 
in exports that might have been deferred or canceled due to this 
financial crisis. We'll also expand the Department of Commerce's efforts 
to help small exporters to sell their goods in emerging markets such as 
China, Latin America, and Africa. And we'll help developing countries 
establish a legal and regulatory infrastructure to make it easier for 
our firms to export.
    Most of all, we must ensure that the new global economy works for 
working people. Working families around the world must be able to 
exercise core labor rights: benefits from legal standards for fair pay 
and reasonable hours and safe working conditions, and improve their 
lives through unions--just as generations of Americans have done through 
the UAW. The United States supports the International Labor Organization 
in its efforts to advance core labor rights--rights that are crucial to 
building a strong and stable global economy.

[[Page 36]]

    That's why, in my balanced budget, America will provide, for the 
first time ever, up to $25 million to create a new arm of the 
International Labor Organization, to work with developing countries to 
put in place basic labor protections, safe workplaces, and the right to 
organize, so that workers everywhere can enjoy the advantages of a 
strong social safety net. We hope all countries will adopt and enforce 
the ILO's core labor standards and that developing countries will accept 
the unique assistance of the ILO. And I encourage other nations to join 
us in helping the International Labor Organization, and insisting that 
trade and investment agreements reflect these core principles.
    Today, in the rooms and hallways of Solidarity House, you still can 
hear the echoes of the voices of the men and women whose sweat, energy, 
and vision lifted millions into our middle class and transformed America 
into the world's greatest force for peace, prosperity, and freedom. With 
them as our guide and our inspiration, we can, and we will, harness the 
power of our new global economy to build a bright future for all our 
people in the 21st century.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:40 p.m. on January 8 in the 
auditorium at Solidarity House in Detroit, MI, for broadcast at 10:06 
a.m. on January 9. The transcript was made available by the Office of 
the Press Secretary on January 8 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast.