Bill Clinton: “If you look at it from our point of view, what we're trying to do is to further lower our trade barriers against Mexico…”

“If you look at it from our point of view, what we're trying to do is to further lower our trade barriers against Mexico and against Canada. They're going to lower more of theirs against us. That's not inconsistent with what my overarching goal is, which is to get a freer trading system worldwide, which is why we're pushing the GATT round. But meanwhile, it is very much in the interest of the United States to have a stronger, more stable, more democratic, and more prosperous Mexico on our southern border, able to buy more of our products. And most of what we do there would have marginal or no impact one way or the other on anything that could happen, for example, in Southeast Asia in the next 4 or 5 years. I would also say that if this works, what I think you'll see is more open trading systems and fewer tariffs in many other Latin American countries which are changing politically and economically as well. So I am not for a discriminatory system, but what I am trying to do is make those systems less closed in their relationships with us now in the hope that over the long run, the GATT round and the worldwide trading rules will really come to dominate the trading policies of all nations. And then, when we have regional groups like APEC, they'll be for the purpose of putting more arrangements together that create jobs rather than dealing with trade rules and regulations. Yes, would you like to answer that? Prime Minister Keating. I don't think that there is anything necessarily inconsistent between either the United States trading into the Asia Pacific, Canada trading with the Asia Pacific, or Mexico trading with the Asia Pacific individually or collectively as part of NAFTA. I think what is important in terms of the view of the Asia- Pacific economies of NAFTA is that there is perhaps more flesh on the bones of APEC before NAFTA goes beyond Mexico, perhaps into South America. But the concept of NAFTA integrating with the Asia Pacific is one where I don't think there is any conflict of concepts. And as the President has said, both things are going to increase the velocity of trade, both within the Americas and within the Asia Pacific. APEC Meeting in Seattle”