Bill Clinton: “I would say--I would make two arguments. First of all, look at the fight we had over NAFTA, and look at the results. We…”

“I would say--I would make two arguments. First of all, look at the fight we had over NAFTA, and look at the results. We had a 500 percent increase in automobile exports to Mexico in one year. Our exports to Mexico increased by 19 percent, about almost 3 times what our overall exports went up since NAFTA passed. NAFTA has been a job winner for the United States, and basically the jobs we're gaining in are upper income jobs. So if NAFTA is the test, it should make us want more of these things. The second point I'd like to make is that when we started APEC--keep in mind the atmosphere that was existing in Seattle last year. When we started APEC, what was the worry? The worry was that the world would be developing into three huge trade blocs: the European Union; the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central, South America, and the Caribbean; and Asia, and that Asia was the fastest growing region in the world, that trade among the Asian nations was going up but people were afraid we would be shut out of that market. So if everything we do has some equivalency to it, that is, if there is no unilateral give-up by the United States, what we are doing in this agreement is opening the fastest growing market in the world. Look at-- just take this country we're in, Indonesia. They are growing at a phenomenal rate and have been for quite some time now. Their capacity to purchase, to engage, to trade, and for themselves to compete and win in the global economy is increasing every day. So what I would say is, we could never walk away from the Asian market; we should be walking toward it on terms that are fair. And that's what I think we're doing. Yes. Foreign Policy”