[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 13 (Monday, April 1, 2002)]
[Pages 497-498]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

March 23, 2002

    Good morning. This week I'm traveling in Latin America, visiting 
three strong American allies--Mexico, Peru, and El Salvador--to reaffirm 
the central importance I place on American relations with the rest of 
our hemisphere.
    Our country's future is closely tied to the success and security of 
our closest neighbors. Problems like drug trade and poverty

[[Page 498]]

produce terrible consequences for all our countries, and prosperity in 
our hemisphere will produce profound benefits for all our countries. The 
United States is strongly committed to helping build an entire 
hemisphere that lives in liberty and trades in freedom.
    The NAFTA trade agreement is a model for the world. NAFTA has 
created jobs and lifted lives in Mexico and Canada and the United 
States. During NAFTA's first 7 years, 15 million jobs were created in 
the United States. Our trade with Mexico now averages more than $650 
million a day. And that's why our border is one of the busiest in the 
world, and keeping trade and traffic moving freely is essential to 
America and American jobs.
    Yet, we must also prevent our terrorist enemies from using the 
openness of our society against us. Even our welcoming country must be 
able to shut its doors to terrorists and drugs and weapons at our own 
borders. So America, working closely with Canada and Mexico, has set a 
goal: We are working for a common border that is open to commerce and 
legitimate travel and closed to drug trafficking and terror. We want to 
speed the movement of legal goods and people across the border and stop 
the illegal movement of goods and people. And we will use the most up-
to-date technology to achieve this goal.
    This week I saw some of that technology at work on a visit to a 
border near El Paso, Texas. X-ray machines are being used to thoroughly 
screen cargo more efficiently than ever before.
    During my visit to Mexico, President Fox and I announced an 
agreement to move toward a smart border between our countries. Through 
close cooperation and advanced technology, we'll make our shared border 
more open and more secure. We'll work with the Mexican Government to 
identify individuals who pose threats to North America before they 
arrive here. We will share technology to inspect traffic on cross-border 
rail lines and at major ports of entry. We will make sure that people 
with legitimate business who travel regularly across the border can 
cross easily, so border authorities can focus on greater risks. And we 
will share information more quickly and efficiently with our Mexican 
friends.
    America's border with Mexico is a region of tremendous economic 
vitality, and that must not change. Both our nations benefit from close 
ties of family and culture and commerce. Our new approach to 
strengthened border security will preserve that openness and increase 
the safety of our country. America will defend ourselves against new 
threats at the same time that we build closer relationships with our 
neighbors.
    Thank you all for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:04 p.m. on March 20 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 23. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
March 22 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.