Week Ending Friday, April 19, 1996

Remarks on Trade With Japan and and when others work with us in a spirit of the Recess Appointment of the cooperation and mutual benefit. Secretary of Commerce and the The boost in sales is tremendous news for Nomination of the OMB Director American workers, for our auto and auto April 12, 1996 parts manufacturers, for our strong relation- ship with Japan. I also want to say it is good Thank you very much. Mr. Vice President, news for the people of Japan. When I first Ambassador Kantor, Senator Levin and Con- went to Japan in 1993, I said to the Japanese gressman Levin, all the distinguished leaders people what I will have the opportunity to from the auto industry and Mr. J.C. Phillips reiterate in just a couple of days: We have from the UAW, and to Jim Hill, all the peo- no more important bilateral relationship. We ple here from the agencies that are part of are bound together in our support for de- our Nation’s economic team that really mocracy and freedom and for the security worked so hard to achieve these results. I of freedom-loving peoples in Asia and now welcome all of you here. elsewhere as Japan has shouldered bigger I want to thank you for what you said, Jim. and bigger burdens to help us all pursue the I am a car guy. I was 6 years old the first goals that we share. We also know that if time I crawled underneath a 1952 Buick in we have a free and open trading relationship my father’s tiny dealership in Hope, Arkan- with them, it will help their economy, it will sas, population 6,000, and I never quite got give their consumers more choices, and it will over it. And one of the things that I promised help both nations to be more competitive as myself I would do if I ever got a chance to we hurtle our way forward into the 21st cen- have an impact on it was to give the American tury. automobile industry the chance to be re- Just 3 years ago our ties were strained by warded for its willingness to compete. And a trading relationship not beneficial to our that is what we have worked hard to do in Nation. The trade wasn’t working, but the this administration. ties weren’t working either. Today our rela- I just saw something—Mickey Kantor and tionship is working better for both of us. I walked outside, along with the Vice Presi- There’s a lot to be done. In a big and complex dent, Mr. Panetta, and I saw something I relationship like ours there will always be a never thought I would live to see. And just lot to be done. But we are strengthening and 4 years ago, if you had told me that I would deepening our relationship. It is now a pow- see it, I’m not sure I would have believed erful force for creating opportunity, for ad- it—right-hand drive American models made vancing democracy, and for improving the by American workers in American plants quality of life in both our countries. bound for Japan; a Ford Taurus, a GM-built I also want to say that, as Ambassador Cavalier, a Chrysler Neon built for the Japa- Kantor said earlier, I believe that the right nese market where consumers are now freely kind of trade is critical for our Nation’s fu- buying tens of thousands more American cars ture. I believe the position of the United than ever before. These new exports, as oth- States must always be that we favor open ers have said, are the results of efforts by trade. We are not afraid to compete. We be- our car makers and our economic team. We lieve we can win. But if we’re going to live have worked to expand our trade on fair in a world where we want others to raise their terms not only with Japan but with others standard of living to our level, and we no throughout the world. These exports show longer control anything like the percentage what we can do when we truly work together of the gross national product we did at the 657

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end of World War II, then, fine, we’ll com- In 1992, 6 percent of our new jobs were pete, and we’ll help others to advance. But in high-wage industries. In 1995, almost 60 we expect the same access to foreign markets percent of our new jobs were in high-wage that we give foreign producers to ours. It is industries. This strategy will work. It is not a simple rule and one we have followed. It a miracle; it will not work overnight. It plainly is a critical part of our economic strategy. depends for its success primarily on the will- When I became President job growth was ingness of American workers and American slow, the deficit was exploding, more than business leaders to work together, to be com- twice as high as it is now. We did two things. petitive, to be productive. But it will work. We put in place an economic strategy, low- This report shows the difference this ap- ered the deficit, cut it in half in 4 years, get proach will make. interest rates down, increase investments in Last year we reached a landmark agree- education and training, in research and tech- ment that increased our access to the Japa- nology, reform and shrink and make more nese market for autos and for auto parts. One effective the National Government, and ex- of the many legacies of our friend Secretary pand trade on terms both free and fair. That was the establishment with Am- strategy has been implemented by a national bassador Kantor of a team to monitor and economic team, the first time we ever had enforce the agreement. This report shows a fully functioning National Economic Coun- that since the agreement was signed, sales cil to parallel our National Security Council, of American-made autos have increased by to integrate, plan, and implement the eco- more than a third. Sales of American-made nomic strategies of this country and to work cars, trucks, and vans rose more than 225 in full partnership with the private sector. percent between 1992 and 1995, including We now have 81⁄2 million more jobs than over 58,000 Big Three cars exported from we had just 3 years ago. And I might say, the U.S. just last year. In the first 2 months of the G–7 countries, that’s more than 8 mil- of this year, our people sold one-third more lion more than the other six nations com- autos to Japan than in the same period last bined. We have the lowest combined rates year. So the movement is all in the right di- of unemployment and inflation in 27 years. rection. And trade has been critical to that; as Ambas- In auto parts, exports over the last 3 years sador Kantor said, 200 separate agree- up 60 percent, to $1.6 billion last year. Now, ments—20 with Japan alone, now 21. Our to give you one example of the evidence that exports are at an all-time high, our auto pro- this agreement and its faithful implementa- ducers now leading the world. tion and your work has made, Tenneco Auto- Even more important, we have a frame- motive of Houston spent 25 years attempting work agreement in our relationship with to break into the Japanese market. Now their Japan which establishes a comprehensive sys- Monroe shock absorbers will be sold in al- tem for dealing with problems that inevitably most 7,500 Japanese shops. arise between two great nations. As a result, These developments are part of the rebirth our exports there are up over 30 percent; of our auto industry, an industry that lost in the areas covered by the agreements, up 49,000 jobs in the 4 years before I took office 85 percent. Today, exports to Japan support and has gained about 80,000 in the 3 years more than 800,000 good-paying American since. Because of the partnership between jobs, including 150,000 new ones since 1992. labor and management, for the first time in Most of these are good, high-wage jobs be- 15 years, last year the auto in- cause jobs tied to exports on average pay 15 dustry again was number one in the world. percent above the national average wage. We So again, let me thank the representatives are, therefore, in expanding our trade to an of the Big Three, the many auto parts pro- all-time high—a full third in the last 3 ducers, and all the workers who have worked years—slowly helping to change the wage so hard to make our belief in this economic picture that has bedeviled so many American strategy a reality. workers who think that they’ll work harder The Big Three will be introducing 17 new and harder and never get a raise. right-hand models for the Japanese market

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in the next 2 years. To those of us who have us. I hope that we will see the day when any memory of this, it seems almost incon- these policies will be the law of the world, ceivable. But you always believed you could when the , be- compete with anybody, anywhere, as long as cause of GATT, really will have an integrated you had a level playing field. I still believe world trading system. I hope we will see the that. I know we’re right. And I know all day when we will see these kinds of benefits Americans will be very proud of these results. in dealing with all of Asia, all of Latin Amer- Let me just say one other thing about the ica, all of Europe, all of Africa, all of the trade issue. I’m happy about the debate in countries that were formerly part of the com- America on trade today, but I sometimes munist bloc. think it falls into two camps which don’t re- But I know this: These people in the auto flect the real world. There are people who industry have proved that our policy works. say, well, America has got a lot of folks who I thank you, Senator Levin and Congressman haven’t gotten a raise in a long time, and we Levin, for your work. I want to thank all the may be creating a lot of jobs but there are people in our administration, the economic people who are losing jobs. Well, that’s true. team and, most of all, I want to thank the But it is also true everywhere in the world. workers and the managers in the auto indus- It is not true that the answer is to put a wall try for proving that we’re doing the right up around America and walk away from our thing. obligations and our opportunities to compete Now, before I close let me just make one and win. If we did that, we would pay a ter- more announcement. We could not have rible price. done what we did here if we hadn’t had a Then there are others who say, well, we vision not only of the economic policy we ought to be for , but we shouldn’t wanted to pursue, but also of how we wanted worry so much about all these specific agree- to pursue it. We put together an economic ments and all these details. We shouldn’t team for the first time in the history of this have governments negotiating this, we ought Government that really functions. I can’t to just sort of get out of the way and see imagine why it had never been done before, what happens and hope for the best. We but it hadn’t. tried it that way and it didn’t work out very There were a lot of different power centers well. in the Federal Government allegedly making Both of those arguments are wrong. Nei- economic policy. We decided to change that. ther reflects an understanding of how the We had a good strategy, good teamwork, and real world works. The right policy is to be good players. We didn’t have a better player for free and fair trade. The right govern- than the late Secretary of Commerce Ron mental action is to support a genuinely com- Brown. Nobody was more determined that petitive marketplace, help to create it, and American workers and companies would get then get out of the way. That is the proper a fair shake around the world, and his ex- policy. If we put up walls, what would hap- traordinary efforts are a model for us all. pen to the jobs of the people who make cars He memorized—as I said at his memorial in plants like the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, service the other day, he made every Depart- Illinois, or Fords in Atlanta or Chevrolets in ment of Commerce employee memorize a Lorain, Ohio, that produce those right-hand one-sentence mission statement that ought drive vehicles we just saw? On the other to be the mission of everybody in our Gov- hand, if we didn’t want to hold others to the ernment: Our mission is to ensure economic same standards we expect to meet in world opportunity for every American. competition, what would happen to all the Well, we still have to do that, and I don’t jobs of the people who would not be able want to miss a beat. And I am determined to stand against the kind of unfair practices that we will continue on the work that Ron we have seen practiced in the past? Brown was engaged in the last day of his life. We made a good start in the auto industry. So today I am proud to announce that I in- The Japanese have proceeded in good faith. tend to appoint Ambassador Mickey Kantor I think it’s been good for them as well as to be the next Secretary of Commerce. And

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I will send his nomination to the Senate the Office of Management and Budget. I promptly. have been very blessed to have two outstand- This is not an easy time for the people ing Directors, and I gave them both other at the Commerce Department, but they will jobs. do fine. And I think that we need to send is now serving with great dis- a clear signal to the rest of America and to tinction as the White House Chief of Staff the world that we don’t intend to miss a beat. and longs for the days when he used to have We have got a strategy, we have got a team, that other job. [Laughter] will it’s working, and we’re going forward with soon be moving on to become the Vice Chair it. of the Federal Reserve Board, and therefore No Trade Representative has ever the object of our complaints whenever the amassed a record of achievement that sur- economy is not growing as we think it should. passes Mickey Kantor’s in the last 31⁄2 years: [Laughter] And so there is, or soon will be, GATT, NAFTA, 200 separate agreements, a vacancy at the Office of Management and enforcement, the consequences that flowed Budget. And I am pleased to announce today from it. But frankly, it hasn’t been easy. If that I intend to nominate as the next director, you think that you have been to something Franklin D. Raines. tough, you ought to sit in those trade negotia- Frank Raines has had extensive experience tions day-in and day-out, and then when you in Government and in the private sector. He finish one, be told to get on an airplane to worked at OMB and on the domestic policy fly halfway around the world and get in the staff under President Carter. Since 1991, he middle of another one. has served in the very important position of I have heard Mickey say a thousand times vice chair of the Federal National Mortgage he was 6 foot 4 and blond-headed when he Association, Fannie Mae. He knows the came to work here. [Laughter] He and Ron world of finance, he respects the bottom line. Brown used to joke, you know, that they were He also understands, I know from our work the Alphonse and Gaston of our economic in the transition and from a conversation we team. Mickey was the bad cop; Ron was the had just yesterday, the very real, human im- good cop. I thought we ought to give him pact the work of the budget has on the Amer- the chance to be a good cop for a change. ican people, and the opportunities they will [Laughter] And I want to thank him for his or will not have to make the most of their service. own lives. So I am very proud to ask him I also want to announce that I will ask his to join our team. principal deputy, , who I, frankly, was a little surprised that he was has been a brilliant negotiator for our coun- willing to leave that incredibly lucrative posi- try, to serve as acting U.S. Trade Representa- tion—how shall I say it. [Laughter] So I told tive. She has been a deputy there since I took Frank when he came here that he was about office. She has been our chief trade nego- to join the ranks of Bob Rubin and Mickey tiator in Latin America and in Asia. She is Kantor and a number of other successful not here today because she is on her way people who came into this administration to back from a trade mission. And I have gone help save the middle class, and when they to many places and had world leaders ask leave they’ll be part of it. [Laughter] me who she was because they virtually got As you might imagine, this has been a pro- tears in their eyes after 4 or 5 hours of trying foundly moving and difficult week for all of to outmaneuver her. [Laughter] So I want us in our political family. Mickey Kantor and to thank her in her absence. I were particularly close to Ron Brown; we Finally, I want to make one more an- loved him very much. I am doing what I think nouncement. In just a few days we will have is the right thing to do today for the eco- another very important vacancy in our eco- nomic interests of America’s business and for nomic team, one that has been critical to the the future of all those workers who deserve success of our plans to being able to cut the the opportunity that is set out in the Com- deficit in half and continue to invest in Amer- merce Department’s mission statement. I’ve ica’s priorities, and that is the Director of known Mickey Kantor a very long time. Ex-

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cept for the color of their skins, the careers the TRA supersedes the provisions of the that he and Ron Brown had are remarkably 1982 Joint Communique between the United parallel over a long period of time. And if States and China. The 1982 Communique he does as well at Commerce as he did at has been one of the cornerstones of our bi- the trade office, we are in very good hands partisan policy toward China for over 13 indeed. years. The ongoing management of our rela- I also want to thank Frank Raines for prov- tions with China is one of the central chal- ing once again that this country is full of pa- lenges of United States foreign policy, but triotic Americans who love their country, this bill would complicate, not facilitate that who are willing to serve, and who are willing task. The bill would also sharply restrict the to make real, tangible sacrifices to serve, be- use of funds to further normalize relations cause the work of democracy, the work of with Vietnam, hampering the President’s citizenship is what makes the rest of this ability to pursue our national interests there country move and go. and potentially jeopardizing further progress I thank them both, and I’d like to ask if on POW/MIA issues. If read literally, this re- each, in their turn, they’d like to come up striction would also raise constitutional con- and just make a few remarks. First, Mickey cerns. Kantor. Second, the bill would seriously impede the President’s authority to organize and ad- NOTE: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in the minister foreign affairs agencies to best serve East Room at the White House. In his remarks, the Nation’s interests and the Administra- he referred to J.C. Phillips, chairman, United Auto Workers Local 882, and Jim Hill, Atlanta plant tion’s foreign policy priorities. I am a strong manager, Ford Motor Co. This item was not re- supporter of appropriate reform and, build- ceived in time for publication in the appropriate ing on bipartisan support, my Administration issue. has already implemented significant steps to reinvent our international operations in a way that has allowed us to reduce funding signifi- Message to the House of cantly, eliminate positions, and close embas- Representatives Returning Without sies, consulates, and other posts overseas. But Approval Foreign Relations this bill proceeds in an improvident fashion, Legislation mandating the abolition of at least one of April 12, 1996 three important foreign affairs agencies, even though each agency has a distinct and impor- To the House of Representatives: tant mission that warrants a separate exist- I am returning herewith without my ap- ence. Moreover, the inflexible, detailed man- proval H.R. 1561, the ‘‘Foreign Relations Au- dates and artificial deadlines included in this thorization Act, Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997.’’ section of the bill should not be imposed on This legislation contains many unaccept- any President. able provisions that would undercut U.S. Third, the appropriations authorizations leadership abroad and damage our ability to included in the bill, for fiscal years 1996 and assure the future security and prosperity of 1997, fall unacceptably below the levels nec- the American people. It would unacceptably essary to conduct the Nation’s foreign policy restrict the President’s ability to address the and to protect U.S. interests abroad. These complex international challenges and oppor- inadequate levels would adversely affect the tunities of the post-Cold War era. It would operation of overseas posts of the foreign af- also restrict Presidential authority needed to fairs agencies and weaken critical U.S. efforts conduct foreign affairs and to control state to promote arms control and nonprolifera- secrets, thereby raising serious constitutional tion, reform international organizations and concerns. peacekeeping, streamline public diplomacy, First, the bill contains foreign policy provi- and implement sustainable development ac- sions, particularly those involving East Asia, tivities. These levels would cause undue re- that are of serious concern. It would amend ductions in force of highly skilled personnel the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to state that at several foreign affairs agencies at a time

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