For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 15, 2004
World Trade Week, 2004
By the President of the United States
Participating in the world economy makes America's economy
stronger. By opening new markets for American products and services,
bringing lower prices and more choices to American consumers, and
attracting foreign companies to invest and hire in the United States,
free and fair trade helps create better jobs for American workers.
During World Trade Week, we celebrate the benefits trade brings to our
citizens, our economy, and to countries and people around the world.
Since World War II, the United States has led the world in
advancing trade to create jobs for American workers, increase choice
for consumers, and ensure that quality American goods and services are
sold on every continent. Today, millions of American jobs depend on
our goods and services being sold overseas, and foreign-owned companies
and their suppliers employ millions of Americans here at home.
My Administration has aggressively negotiated trade agreements that
slash foreign tariffs and remove the barriers to selling American goods
and services around the world. Since 2001, we have entered into free
trade agreements with Chile and Singapore and concluded negotiations
with Australia, Morocco, the Dominican Republic, and five countries in
Central America. Free trade agreement negotiations with Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Bahrain, Thailand, and five member countries of
the Southern African Customs Union are in progress or about to begin.
We are also working with our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere to
create a Free Trade Area of the Americas that will form the world's
largest common market and improve the lives of citizens in America and
these countries. By opening foreign markets to American exports and
encouraging foreign countries to set up operations in the United
States, all of these agreements help create more and better jobs in our
Nation. They also help increase prosperity for our workers.
For American businesses and their employees to continue to
outperform other countries, America must remain the best place to do
business and invest capital. In addition, we must ensure that our
citizens are prepared for the high-skilled jobs our economy is
creating. By fostering an environment where the entrepreneurial spirit
flourishes and by providing workers with the best skills and education
in the world, we can maintain our country's economic leadership and
help all our citizens achieve a better life.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 16 through May
22, 2004, as World Trade Week. I encourage all Americans to observe
this week with events, trade shows, and educational programs that
celebrate the benefits of trade to our Nation and the global economy.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day
of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-eighth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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