Bill Clinton: “I have supported the economic and political integration of Europe for a very long time now. As it proceeds and as people…”

“I have supported the economic and political integration of Europe for a very long time now. As it proceeds and as people begin to see Europe as a single entity, we will all come to understand that they have more people in the aggregate and a bigger economy in the aggregate than we do. There may come a time in the future when, instead of the dollar being the accepted standard of international currency, it will be the dollar and the euro. No one really knows. But I believe that anything that facilitates growth and opportunity for our friends in Europe has to be good for us, as long as they don't build walls around the European community. That is, if Europe continues to be a more open trading environment, if this gives them the confidence and security to take down even more barriers--because our economy is still more open than Europe--this will be a very good thing. We need to support their success. We should hope that this will lead to a more rapidly rising standard of living in the European countries that don't have such a high standard of living. We should hope that this brings them great new opportunities. And we should believe and have enough confidence that if they'll keep their doors open, that we'll get more than our fair share of opportunities. We should also hope that it will bring more political self- confidence and that we will be able to work with them even more rapidly and more comprehensively in dealing with other challenges, like the challenges we face in Kosovo, or the one we faced a few years ago in Bosnia that we're still working on. So on balance, I have to say, I think this is a good thing, and I think it's an inevitable thing. And I don't think it would be worth a moment's attention by anyone to rue the day it happened. They are the masters of their own fate; they are going in this direction. I think, on balance, it's positive, and we need to figure out how to make it a good thing for America and a good thing for the world. Steel Imports”