36 



Whether or not the most effective forum would be a public forum 

 for that discussion is a matter of some conjecture, and I would be 

 happy to sit down and talk to you or others about that. 



Senator Kerrey. Well, I would appreciate that. You are well 

 known for your capacity to be delicate and ambassadorial and tact- 

 ful. That isn't required with me in this particular case. What would 

 be your conjecture as to the impact of a public meeting? 



Ambassador Kantor. I think that, with all due respect, a public 

 meeting might harden the positions and might make it less likely 

 that we accomplish what I think is generally conceded we should 

 accomplish in this particular situation. 



Senator Kerrey. I am willing to listen to that as a possibility. 

 Let me try to break the question down into two parts. You see it 

 being possibly constructive to invite the Minister to come to the 

 United States to discuss with Members of Congress who are con- 

 cerned about this issue, discuss his own view of what is likely to 

 happen and what assurances he might be prepared to give as well 

 to allay some of the concerns? 



Ambassador Kantor. You mean in a private situation? 



Senator Kerrey. In either a private or public. 



Ambassador Kantor. Well, I would vote for A and not B. 



Senator Kerrey. Well, so you are saying that you think it would 

 be constructive if it was private? 



Ambassador Kantor. I think it would be. 



Senator Kerrey. And you are not certain about — or you are 

 certain? 



Ambassador Kantor. Oh, I am very certain. I was just trying to 

 be delicate with my friend from Nebraska. 



Senator Kerrey. Pull the tooth. [Laughter.] 



Ambassador Kantor. I am not in the habit of being — we have 

 known each other a long time. I think it would — if I were to go 

 down to Mexico and had to appear in public and were in the same 

 situation as my good friend, Secretary Serra Puche, who is a — I 

 would find I would fight like a banyan and block myself into a posi- 

 tion publicly that I might be more flexible in a private situation. 

 And I am just trying to put myself in his position. 



Senator KERREY. I am not talking about a public hearing where 

 we would ask him to come and testify. I am just talking about a 

 meeting with the opportunity to 



Ambassador Kantor. I would be happy to work with you, and I 

 think he would, too, in some session that would be helpful. 



Senator Kerrey. I find with both he and Minister Aspe that 

 there is the capacity to articulate what they see as the risk, and 

 they in my judgment are taking a considerable amount of risk. 

 They see significant competitive advantages in the United States 

 of America with a number of their industries at risk. 



Ambassador Kantor. Absolutely. 



Senator Kerrey. And though I am concerned about many of the 

 details, as I have alluded to earlier, I must say I am enormously 

 impressed with their political willingness to take risk with their 

 economic reform as well as their political reform. When one hears 

 them articulate what they are trying to do, when one hears them 

 describe what it is that they are doing with their own policies, 

 going from a 15-percent fiscal deficit to a surplus, taking their debt 



