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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 20, 1993

NAFTA NOTES

Monday, September 20, 1993

Democratic Senators Endorse NAFTA

In a Senate press conference this afternoon, two previously undecided Senators, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Harlan Mathews (D-TN), publicly announced their endorsement of NAFTA. "The NAFTA process provides us with an excellent opportunity to identify resources for addressing the state of the Rio Grande and other pressing environmental and health issues along the border," Senator Bingaman said. Senator Mathews called NAFTA "an opportunity to become more prosperous and secure by becoming more productive and more competitive."
The announcement was arranged by Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who heads the Senate's informal NAFTA whip organization.

"Trade Hawk" Clyde Prestowitz Takes Second Look, Endorses NAFTA

In an extended op-ed article in Sunday's Washington Post, on NAFTA subtitled "How I Overcame My Doubts and Learned to Like the Pact," former Reagan Administration trade official and acknowledged "trade hawk" Clyde Prestowitz reversed his position, writing that while at one time he had great concerns, "I believe the time has now come for Congress to ratify NAFTA."

"Under the terms of NAFTA," Prestowitz writes, "we are giving away very little. The barriers being removed are mostly on the Mexican side. Ironically, their removal may actually reduce incentives for U.S. firms to move south." Without NAFTA, Prestowitz argues, it is only logical for U.S. producers of, say, minivans to export the excess production of their Mexican plants (which are required by pre-NAFTA Mexican law in order to sell in Mexico) back to the U.S. With NAFTA, the Big Three could shift their minivan production back to more efficient U.S. plants. NAFTA isn't perfect, Prestowitz concludes, but "even with its imperfections, NAFTA will leave America better off than before."

NAFTA Flash Facts Hotline

Flash Facts is an automated information system available seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day. Flash Facts receives telephone (touch-tone) inquiries and faxes printed material from the Department of Commerce's library to your fax machine free of charge and within minutes. Call: (202) 482-4464.

NAFTA Fact

Over 300 economists, including 13 nobel prize winners, have endorsed NAFTA as a net job-gainer for the U.S. economy.