For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 23, 2002
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
THE PRESIDENT: 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
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 seven
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.
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