Bill Clinton: “First of all, that's the initial point we ought to make. And let me back up and say this. This is a little background.…”

“First of all, that's the initial point we ought to make. And let me back up and say this. This is a little background. For 12 years I was Governor of a State that had plants shut down and go to Mexico. Before I quit we had one or two of them come back, just like that General Motors plant. I don't know if you saw that, it was announced they were going to shut down 1,000 jobs and bring them back to Michigan because they thought they could achieve higher levels of productivity. The point I want to make to you about NAFTA is this--I want to make two or three points about it. Number one, if we don't do it, let's say we don't do it, anybody who wants to shut a plant down in America and move it to Mexico for lower wages can do that anyway within the so-called maquilladora zone, right? And what upsets people is they move jobs down there, then they produce products and bring it back here, okay? What NAFTA does primarily with regard to that is to move the line back down toward Mexico, throughout Mexico. It makes the whole country eligible. But if you wanted to go to Mexico for low wages to produce for America, you would stay as close to the border as you could to cut your costs down. If you go to Mexico City, in all probability you're going down there to produce for the Mexicans in Mexico City. So if we do nothing, what people really hate about this can continue and will. Secondly, I think the people will be better off because I don't intend to sign this agreement or send it up to Congress until we get some agreements on the part of the Mexican Government to lift labor standards and to lift environmental standards there which will lower the wage gap and the cost-of-production gap, increase incomes from Mexican people, and enable them to buy more of our products. Thirdly, 5 or 6 years ago Mexico had a $5 billion trade surplus with us because they had more tariffs on our products than we had on theirs, 5 or 6 years ago. Now, we've got a $6 billion trade surplus with them because President Salinas had lowered these tariffs. So I believe that if we go forward with the agreement, if the Mexican incomes rise, they will be able to buy more American products, and it will create more jobs than it costs. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't be for this. And I think everything that's bad about it is going to happen anyway and even more so if we don't do anything. That's what I believe. That's the reason I'm for it. Yes. Defense Cuts”