Home > News & Policies > May 2001

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 7, 2001

Remarks by the President to the Council of the Americas
The State Department
Washington, D.C.

     Listen to the President's Remarks

2:33 P.M. EDT

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Thank  you all very much.  Sit down.  Thank you, Mr. Rhodes, I'm honored; and thank you for having me, sir.  It's an honor to be here  with  Senator Chuck Hagel.  He's a man who's got a good vision of the world.  He's also a fine United States Senator, I might add.  Thank you for being  here,  Senator.   It's  good  to see ambassadors from nations in our hemisphere.  Mr. Rockefeller, thank you very much for your support of trade in our hemisphere.

     It's an honor to be here with the best pick I could have possibly made to  be  the Secretary of State, and that's Colin Powell.  (Applause.)  He's doing  a really good job of making the case for our country in a strong and humble  way.   When it's all said and done, his tenure is going to mean the world is more peaceful and more prosperous.

     I  appreciate so very much Peter Romero from the State Department, who has  been  working  side-by-side  with  those  of us at the White House.  I appreciate  Thomas McNamara and Bill Pryce, as well.  And thank you all for coming  and  thank you for letting me talk about a subject near and dear to my heart.

     The  Council  of  the Americas was formed 36 years ago, in a different America.   And  it's  certainly  a different world.  In 1965, international trade  and  investment  mattered  much less to the U.S. economy.  We traded mostly  with  the countries of Europe.  Interestingly enough, at that point in  time,  Mexico  was our fifth largest trading partner.  Today, she's the second largest trading partner, behind Canada.

     In  1965, so few Americans traced their ancestry to Latin America that the  Census  didn't  even  bother to tabulate them.  Today, some 35 million Americans  are  of  Hispanic  origin.   In 1965, military and authoritarian regimes  ruled  all too many of the countries of the Americas.  Today, with one  sad, solitary exception, every nation in our hemisphere has an elected government.

     A recent summit in Quebec symbolized the new reality in our hemisphere --  a  unity  of  shared  values,  shared  culture  and  shared trade.  And together,  we made good progress at that summit, the beginnings of a really strong and fruitful relationship all throughout the hemisphere.

     In  the 1980s and the early '90s, our nation negotiated many important trade agreements:  the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement; the North American Free  Trade  Agreement;  and the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Talks. Since  then,  efforts  have  stalled  as U.S. trade promotion authority was allowed  to  lapse.  The inactivity of the American government has had real costs  for  the American people.  The United States has few better friends, for  example,  than  the  Republic of Chile; but the fact is Canadian goods sold in Chile pay a lower tariff than American goods do, because the United States has left its trade talks with Chile unfinished.

     Free  trade  agreements  are  being negotiated all over the world, and we're  not a party to them.  And this has got to change.  Americans are the world's  preeminent  inventor  of  new  technology  and the world's biggest foreign  investor.  We're the world's most efficient food producer, and the world's  leading  source of information and entertainment.  For our farmers and  our inventors, for our artists and for ordinary savers open trade pays off in the form of higher incomes and higher returns.

     We  benefit from open trade in less tangible ways, as well.  Americans want  to  live  on  a  cleaner  planet;  we want labor standards upheld and children  protected  from  exploitation.   Americans  want human rights and individual  freedom to advance.  Open trade advances those American values, those universal values.

     By  failing  to  make  the case for trade, we've allowed a new kind of protectionism  to  appear  in  this country.  It talks of workers, while it opposes  a  major  source  of new jobs.  It talks of the environment, while opposing the wealth-creating policies that will pay for clean air and water in  developing  nations.   It talks of the disadvantaged, even as it offers ideas that would keep many of the poor in poverty.

     Open  trade  is  not  just  an  economic  opportunity,  it  is a moral imperative.   Trade creates jobs for the unemployed.  When we negotiate for open  markets, we are providing new hope for the world's poor.  And when we promote  open  trade,  we  are promoting political freedom.  Societies that open  to  commerce across their borders will open to democracy within their borders, not always immediately, and not always smoothly, but in good time.

     Look at our friends, Mexico, and the political reforms there.  Look at Taiwan.   Look  at South Korea.  And some day soon, I hope that an American President  will  end that list by adding, look at China.  I believe in open trade with China, because I believe that freedom can triumph in China.

     Later  this  week,  I  will  send  the  outline  of my trade agenda to Congress.   My  administration wants to work with Congress and to listen to what the members have to say.  We've been especially impressed by the fresh new  thinking of many members about how to advance environmental and worker protection  concerns  in  ways  that open trade, rather than closing trade. They recognize that one-size-fits-all policies can't succeed.  They know we need a toolbox equipped to match diverse tools with diverse problems, and I agree.

     And one tool I must have is renewed U.S. trade promotion authority.  I urge  the  Congress,  restore  our  nation's  authority  to negotiate trade agreements.   And  I will use that authority to build freedom in the world, progress in our hemisphere, and enduring prosperity in the United States.

     We  must  pass  the  Free Trade Agreement with Jordan, one of our best friends  in  the Middle East.  We need to complete our Free Trade Agreement with  Singapore.   We  must  proceed  with  other  bilateral  and  regional agreements.  And the time has come for a new global trade round.

     I'm  optimistic  about trade.  I'm also realistic about trade.  I will enforce  our  laws  against unfair trade practices.  And I want to consider how  we  can  improve  our  program for trade adjustment assistance when it comes  up  for re-authorization next year.  But we must understand that the transition  costs  of open trade are dwarfed by open trade's benefits, that are  measured  not  only  in dollars and cents, but in human freedom, human dignity, human rights and human progress.

     We  must  make  those  benefits  a  reality  for all the people of our hemisphere.   And that's the task ahead.  I accept it with enthusiasm.  And I'm  counting  on  the  Council's help to bring sanity to the United States Congress.

     God bless.

                             END                 2:42 P.M. EDT