1. Home
2. Documents
3. Leaders
4. Jean Chretien
5. NAFTA

Remarks of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada During NAFTA Initialing Ceremony Plaza San Antonio Hotel San Antonio, Texas

Remarks of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada During NAFTA Initialing Ceremony Plaza San Antonio Hotel San Antonio, Texas October 7, 1992 3:22 P.M. CDT PRIME MINISTER MULRONEY: President Bush, President Salinas, Ministers and Senators, Congressmen, Messrs. des Ambassadeurs, Mesdames et Monsieurs: What we're marking here today is a signal accomplishment of leadership and vision and commitment. President Salinas, it was your commitment to opening up and modernizing your country's economy and to harnessing its huge potential that first inspired this initiative. Without your courage and resolve, these negotiations would never have happened, and this agreement would never have been realized. And you, sir, are entitled to our congratulations. (Applause.) President Bush -- well, I think you and I have been through some of this before. (Laughter.) And I think that I can say quite clearly, Mr. President, that without your persuasive leadership and the implementation of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement almost four years ago now, we would today have no free trade agreement upon which to build this remarkable day here today. (Applause.) The Canada-United States trading relationship, which now exceeds, in terms of goods alone, $200 billion a year -- some $260 billion in terms of goods and services -- is the largest such arrangement between two nations in history. Our free trade agreement has made that vast and complex association mutually enriching, predictable and secure. And, Mr. President, without your compelling vision of the Americas as a hemisphere of prosperity built on cooperation, an approach, I may say, strongly supported in Congress by many in the leadership of both major parties -- but without that compelling vision of the Americas, we would not be in San Antonio today for this historic event which will long live in history of our three countries. (Applause.) And I am convinced that the agreement initialed here soon by Ministers Wilson and Secretary Serra and Ambassador Carla Hills, and their own remarkable personal efforts in this negotiation, represent a grand accomplishment -- a good accomplishment for North America, one that will be a proud contribution to our global trading system. The North American Free Trade Agreement provides us all with a pathway to prosperity. For Canada, this goes hand-in-hand with the decision of my government to join the Organization of American States and play a more active role in the affairs of this hemisphere. As Canadians, of course, we're also North Americans, and proudly so. While geography and the forces of history have made us neighbors, this agreement will make us all partners -- partners in opportunity and partners in the economic success that flows inevitably from free and fair trade. As some of you may know, four years ago Canada was on the verge of entering into the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. It was one of the most controversial initiatives in Canadian history. But our experience with free trade has been, in a word, beneficial -- beneficial. Even during difficult economic times and while acknowledging and regretting, obviously, the human problems that ensue from restructuring and modernization, phenomena that are affecting governments and countries from Europe to Asia and elsewhere around the world. By way of illustration, our merchandise trade, even in difficult economic times around the world, with the United States is up almost 11 percent during the agreement's first three years. Despite sluggish economies worldwide, Canada in July recorded its highest-ever level of exports and imports. And Canadian exports to the United States, under the treaty, exceeded $10 billion in one month for the first time, while the U.S. has been more than strengthening its already very productive relationship with Canadian consumers. And so I'm confident that each of our three countries -- and I speak as Prime Minister of a country that has now lived four years with the trading relationship, a similar trading relationship with the United States -- I am confident that each of our three countries will grow stronger and more prosperous as our trade increases with the implementation of NAFTA. In each of our countries important events are taking place. And these truly -- by any standard or any measure -- are challenging times. It's all the more important, as the President has just said, that our three countries get on with the job of implementing NAFTA with all that it means for the future well-being of all of our peoples. As you know from the beginning of negotiations in Toronto to meetings in Mexico, to the grand finale in Washington, this was an intense and demanding process requiring an absolute commitment to success from the three governments. Let us now succeed just as effectively and well in securing the ratification and implementation of the agreement further to the legislative requirements in our respective jurisdictions. Because we all know that, while this is a trade agreement, it's not just about trade, and it's not just about prosperity -- although that will follow just as surely as summer follows spring. For the first time ever, we have included in a trade agreement provisions that recognize our responsibility for the air we breathe and the water we drink and the land and resources that can serve us well, only if we treat them well in return. And as governments, we must also ensure that our people have the skills and training required to take full advantage of the benefits of this agreement. NAFTA and the wealth it generates will help us not only to prosper from our common interests, but also to celebrate -- to celebrate our common values, our different cultures, and our different languages, and our unique strengths. It is this special human dimension that you see here today that can never be entirely captured in a legal text, but which is an important benefit flowing from the agreement. The unity and cohesiveness that we have fostered as best we can within our own borders and which we will each re-enforce in the days ahead, gives us the confidence to build economic bridges across these borders, ensuring better lives and greater opportunity for all of our children. But I do see it. Mr. President Bush, Mr. President Salinas, I do see this as a most significant day for the great countries that we all have the privilege to represent -- Mexico, the United States and Canada. The spirit of compromise and vision and commitment that has helped forge this agreement will serve us well in the broad and growing and impressive partnership that now links our three nations, and that we will pursue together for the well-being of this entire continent we share and the people we serve. Muchas Gracias. Merci beaucoup. Thank you. And may God bless you all