President Bill Clinton gives an address then signs the NAFTA Side Agreements 1993
This 1993 NAFTA kick-off starts with an introduction by Al Gore followed by a speech by President Clinton. At the conclusion of the Clinton speech President Clinton signs the NAFTA Side Agreements. After the signing, each of the former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford make remarks in support of NAFTA.
VICE PRESIDENT GORE: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. We'd like to welcome all of you. President and Mrs. Ford, President and Mrs. Carter, President Bush, Mr. President, to the First Lady, to the Ambassador of Mexico, Mr. Montano, Ambassador Keegan of Canada, Ambassador Kantor. To the distinguished leaders of Congress here -- the Speaker of the House Tom Foley -- I got you all a little out of order, I apologize -- and to the Majority Leader, Senator Mitchell; to the Republican Leader, Senator Dole; the Minority Leader of the House Bob Michel; to all of the distinguished members of the House and Senate who are here. To the other members of our Cabinet -- of President Clinton's Cabinet who are here --Secretary Christopher, Secretary Bentsen, Secretary Espy, Secretary Reich, Secretary Riley, Secretary Browner, Secretary Babbitt, Attorney General Reno, OMB Director Panetta. And to all of the distinguished guests who are present. We deeply appreciate the demonstration of support for a treaty of such importance to the United States of America.
If you're anything like me and my family, you're still kind of rubbing your eyes a little bit after yesterday's event, where the Prime Minister of Israel and the Chairman of the PLO were on the White House lawn. But that event has something in common with the event here this morning; something that was thought to be impossible, but good for our country and good for the world was made possible by a long series of commitments by presidents in both parties.
There are some issues that transcend ideology. That is, the view is so uniform that it unites people in both parties. This means our country can pursue a bipartisan policy with continuity over the decades. That's how we won the Cold War. That's how we have promoted peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. And that's how the United States of America has promoted freer trade and bigger markets for our products and those of other nations throughout the world. NAFTA is such an issue.
The presence of three former presidents, two Republicans and one Democrat, to join President Clinton here today on this stage, is evidence of our country's ability to support what is in our nation's best interest over the long term without respect to partisanship.
Arthur Vandenberg, the Senator most identified with bipartisanship during and after World War II once wrote: Bipartisanship does not involve the remotest surrender of free debate in determining our position. On the contrary