80 



• Mexican demand for food is expected to strengthen, perhaps by 5 to 6 percent 

 annually, throughout this decade as the population grows, the economy picks up 

 steam, and incomes rise. 



• Mexico's, limited natural resource base (arable land and water supplies) will re- 

 quire increased imports of food and feedstuffs to keep pace with an expanding de- 

 mand. Mexico has about 0.7 acres of arable land per person, compared with 1.9 for 

 the United States. (With Mexico's population rising at a faster rate, the U.S. advan- 

 tage will widen.) 



The bottom line is that the NAFTA will give U.S. agricultural producers signifi- 

 cant opportunity in our hottest market. We expect particular benefits for our exports 

 of beef, pork, poultry, eggs, dairy products, fresh fruit, grains and oilseeds. 



Increased import demand from Mexico will have a positive impact on U.S. farm 

 prices and cash receipts, boosting U.S. farm cash receipts a projected 2 to 3 percent. 

 USDA also projects that U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico will be $2.6 billion high- 

 er annually when NAFTA is fully implemented than they would be without a 

 NAFTA. This means about 56,000 additional jobs. 



NAFTA includes important benefits for other key U.S. sectors: 



Opening up Trade in Services. NAFTA will open new markets for the delivery of 

 U.S. services to Mexico and Canada, where service companies are already large and 

 growing. NAFTA will allow U.S. service firms to provide their services directly from 

 the United States on a nondiscriminatory basis, with any exceptions clearly spelled 

 out. Furthermore, U.S. service companies will benefit from the right to establish, 

 if they so choose, in Mexico or Canada. NAFTA opens the Mexican market to U.S. 

 bus and trucking firms, financial service providers, and insurance and enhanced 

 telecommunications companies, among others. 



Protecting U.S. Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks. NAFTA will ensure a high 

 level of protection under Mexican law for U.S. owners of patents, copyrights, trade- 

 marks, trade secrets, and integrated circuits, including strong safeguards for com- 

 puter programs, pharmaceutical inventions, and sound recordings. NAFTA obligates 

 both Mexico and Canada to enforce intellectual property rights against infringe- 

 ment, both internally and at the border. By protecting intellectual property rights, 

 NAFTA will increase trade and diminish losses from counterfeiting and piracy. 



U.S. motion pictures, music and sound recordings, software, book publishing, and 

 other creative industries lead the world, and are crucial to the high-wage economy 

 that we intend to build. The copyright industries are one of the largest and fastest 

 growing segments of the U.S. economy, employing 5 percent of the U.S. work force, 

 and exporting, by a conservative estimate, $34 billion in 1990. 



The Benefit to Small Business. I have noted the statements of several sectors cit- 

 ing the benefits which will result from NAFTA; that sentiment is widely held in the 

 business community, by businesses large and small. Indeed, small businesses stand 

 to be among the major beneficiaries of NAFTA. Small businesses are not well- 

 equipped to employ attorneys and other professionals to wrestle with the tariff and 

 licensing requirements which presently block the way to the Mexican market. With 

 tariffs reduced or eliminated, and nontariff barriers coming down, U.S. small busi- 

 ness, which makes up a growing share of U.S. exports, will be able to sell into the 

 Mexican market. 



THE SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENTS ON LABOR AND THE ENVIRONMENT 



President Clinton endorsed NAFTA last October during the campaign in a speech 

 at North Carolina State University, but he also set out a series of principles which 

 he wanted to see incorporated into supplemental agreements and related initiatives. 



He made a promise to the American people which he has today kept: that he 

 would make sure economic growth with Mexico did not come at the expense of the 

 environment or workers' rights, and that we would be protected from the possibility 

 of import surges. 



Last Tuesday, President Clinton, Prime Minister Campbell, and President Salinas 

 signed historic agreements on environmental and labor cooperation. In addition, 

 Mexican Trade Secretary Jaime Serra, Canadian Minister of International Trade 

 Tom Hockin and I have concluded the negotiation of an understanding on import 

 surges. 



These agreements break new ground. The fundamental objectives of the labor and 

 environment agreements are to work cooperatively to improve conditions for labor 

 and the environment throughout North America and to improve national enforce- 

 ment of national laws relating to labor and the environment. They commit all three 

 nations to fair, open and equitable administrative and judicial processes for the en- 

 forcement of environmental and labor laws. 



