[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 17 (Monday, April 30, 2001)]
[Pages 643-644]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Vicente Fox of Mexico and an 
Exchange With Reporters in Quebec

April 21, 2001

    President Bush. It's an honor for me to be with my friend, a friend 
of the United States, President Fox. He's a strong advocate of trade, 
and he's a strong advocate of good relations. Today I've decided that 
the first state dinner I will have as President of the United States 
will be with my friend Vicente Fox. We will have the state dinner in 
early fall, hopefully the month of September, depending upon our 
schedules. I look forward to a continued dialog on a lot of issues that 
concern our countries, a lot of issues that concern our hemisphere, 
prior to the dinner. And of course, we look forward to welcoming you, 
sir, to Washington on that day.
    President Fox. Yes, sir. Well, on my side, just to say that, again, 
we meet, and we meet always to keep the programs going, to keep the 
followup on the issues that we have been discussing, and I can say that 
we're working with speed, that we're moving ahead, and that issues like 
water that we----
    President Bush. Yes.
    President Fox. ----have created back in San Cristobal, Mexico, is 
running along and the same--other issues, like migration, like the 
rest--excellent. And right now, here in this meeting in Quebec, the main 
concern, I think, is, to all of us is, how do we move with sufficient 
speed ahead on the trade agreement of the Americas which, as we had the 
opportunity to see today, everybody is in favor of it, and now our 
common responsibility, joint responsibility, is to structure a solid, 
solid project so that it's going to be

[[Page 644]]

to the benefit of everybody, a win-win proposal.
    I really appreciate the commitment and the enthusiasm that President 
Bush showed on his presentations today. I think that's what we need in 
Latin America, that kind of support, that kind of push, that kind of 
dynamism that Latin America will take with our partner--in this case, 
the United States.

Missionary Aircraft Incident in Peru

    Q. Mr. President, the United States had a surveillance aircraft 
tracking the missionary plane over Peru. Does the United States share 
any responsibility for it being shot down as a suspected drug plane?
    President Bush. The United States is certainly upset by the fact 
that a citizen--two citizens lost their lives in Peru. Our hearts go out 
to the families, the community affected by the loss. I will wait to see 
all the facts before I reach any conclusions about blame. But right now, 
we mourn for the loss of a life--two lives. And I'm----

Labor and Environment Protections in Trade Agreements

    Q. In your speech today, you mentioned labor and environmental 
standards. Were you signaling that this will have to be part of future 
trade deals?
    President Bush. I understand there's a lot of discussion about labor 
codicils and environmental codicils. What I was signaling is that we 
should not allow those codicils to destroy the spirit of free trade. In 
other words, a free trade agreement focuses on commerce, and that while 
I understand that some unionists are interested in making sure there's 
labor protections, I don't want those labor protections to be used to 
destroy the free trade agreement.
    Secondly, it's very important for folks to understand that when 
there's more trade, there's more commerce, and there's more prosperity. 
And a prosperous society is more likely to be just. And a prosperous 
society is one more likely to have good environmental standards and be 
able to enforce those standards.
    So I happen to think trade and clean air and trade and labor 
conditions--good labor conditions--go hand in hand. It's the poor 
nations that have trouble dealing with labor conditions. It's the poor 
nations that have trouble meeting their obligations to environmental 
quality. And I firmly believe, like my friend the President believes, 
that commerce and trade go hand in hand, which will yield a more 
prosperous society all throughout the hemisphere.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:41 p.m. in the Club Executive Room at 
the Hilton Quebec. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of these remarks.