Bill Clinton: “Let me say I'm concerned about what appear to be the reasons for the objection to the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger by…”

“Let me say I'm concerned about what appear to be the reasons for the objection to the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger by the European Union, and I think that it would be unfortunate if we had a trade standoff with them. But we have a system for managing this through the World Trade Organization, and we have some options ourselves when actions are taken by Europe in this regard. I don't know that Airbus-- the Europeans have more people living on their continent than we do in the United States, and I don't believe Airbus has an effective competitor in Europe. So I have mixed--quite a lot of concern about what the Europeans have said. But I think there is an orderly process for our handling this, and I think we had better let the orderly process play itself out before we talk ourselves into a trade war. I think we're a long way from that, and I think we'll probably avoid it. Thank you very much. Joint Chiefs of Staff Nomination”