Bill Clinton: “First, I think Congressman Johnston came out for it, for NAFTA yesterday. And I hope we'll get a lot of the other…”

“First, I think Congressman Johnston came out for it, for NAFTA yesterday. And I hope we'll get a lot of the other Florida Democrats and the Republicans. They could turn the tide, actually. Florida is one of the keys in what happens to NAFTA. They have a huge number of votes that are not firmly declared. Now, on the two issues you raised, I have talked to Senator Graham twice at great length about the Caribbean Basin Initiative issue, and I think he has some legitimate concerns which I want to work with him on. But here is the problem: I think that their concerns--I think we can solve this. That is, what the Members of the Florida delegation who have real concerns about these Caribbean countries and want them to do well and not be hurt, that is, they don't want production shifted from Caribbean nations to Mexico, I think we can work that out. And I think we can work that out with the support of the Mexicans. But that is a matter that it requires a greater attention to detail, in effect creating a new set of understandings, than solving the citrus problem or the sugar problem or the winter vegetable problem. So that if we were to just up and say, well, this is something we've fixed or agreed to now or the Mexicans were to agree to, we'd be asking them to do something now that they wouldn't be able to fully assess the implications of. And I think there is every indication that we could lose as many votes as we could gain from doing that. That's the real problem there. I think we can work this out. But if I promise parity with all the implications that could make now, there's a chance that we could lose as many or more votes as we could gain because we simply don't have time to sit down and work out the level of detail on the Caribbean Basin Initiative that I want. I think that the principle is sound; I think that the objective is sound; I think we can get there. But if the vote hinges on that, I just don't think we can do it. And I feel the same way on the Cuban issue. Colombia--take another example--Colombia has increased their purchases of American products 69 and 64 percent in the last 2 years. It has also had some greater contact with the Castro regime. Should we tell them we don't want them to buy our products anymore? The French--every time I see President Mitterrand, he tells me how wrong I am about Cuba. I think we're right about Cuba and they're wrong. But I think that we have to recognize that our embargo has been quite successful, that we have hurt the economy significantly, that it is contributing to, it is hastening the day when the outdated Communist system will collapse and Cuba will have to open. I don't think there's any question that these gestures of openness that have come out of the Castro regime in the last several months have been the direct result of our policy of pressure and firmness. So I believe in our policy. But I don't think that we can rationally expect that we can leverage anybody right now to go along with it who doesn't agree with it. I mean, Mexico does have a history of dealing with Cuba. There's nothing I can do about it. I very much regret, after all the support that I have given to the Cuban Democracy Act, to Radio and TV Marti--no Democrat in my lifetime, in the White House at least, has come close to taking the strong position I have on this, agreeing with the Cuban American community. And I'm sorry that Congressman Menendez in New Jersey and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Diaz- Balart feel the way they do. But there's nothing I can do about it. I think the interest of the United States in dealing with Mexico, the border they share with us, the 90 million people they have, getting cooperation on immigration and drug issues, and--[inaudible]--jobs and growth outweigh the others. And I have to pursue the agreement. Haiti”