[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 16 (Monday, April 28, 2008)]
[Pages 565-575]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 are--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

[[Page 566]]

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.
    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. 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.

[[Page 567]]

    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 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

[[Page 568]]

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 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

[[Page 569]]

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 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. Thank you.
    President Bush. Okay, a couple of questions.

Trade/2008 Presidential Elections/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 pro-trade agenda. In essence, do you 
worry that you're losing the free trade debate in the course 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 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

[[Page 570]]

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. 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 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

[[Page 571]]

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.

Mexico's 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 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. 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 dialog 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.

[[Page 572]]

Canada's 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 a 
while. 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 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.
    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

[[Page 573]]

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 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. 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 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 basis 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

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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--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, 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

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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 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 Harper. 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.