Bill Clinton: “I think it'll make it a lot tougher on us. Keep in mind Mexico has been opening its economy, its purchases of foreign…”

“I think it'll make it a lot tougher on us. Keep in mind Mexico has been opening its economy, its purchases of foreign products have been going up across the board. They want to give us some special opportunities to export into the Mexican market in return for being able to attract more investment to their country. So they will have to pursue their strategy of getting more investment and opening their markets to get it somewhere else if we don't take advantage of this. And, therefore, it could be an enormous setback for us. It would just give our competitors a big leg up in one of the fastest growing markets in the world. And of course, depending on whom they reached out to, it could really hurt the farmers. If the European Community, for example, decided that they would try to replace the United States in NAFTA, it could really foreclose a lot of farm markets. You know all the troubles we've been through just trying to get a new GATT agreement. I'm very, very concerned about it. I would also point out to all the farmers who are listening that we believe if we do NAFTA, and Mexico as the example will lead us to the same opportunities in other Latin American countries with big possibilities for agricultural exports of all kinds. So I think it's a big plus if we do it, but frankly I think we have to face the fact that Mexico has got to have a plan B. And if we turn out to be unreliable, if we can't see through this trade agreement, they will be forced to turn elsewhere to try to get capital and in return for that will almost certainly be willing to give the same kind of extra access to their market that the United States now has just for the asking if we'll go ahead and adopt this agreement.”