NAFTA NOTES 

Thursday, September 16, 1993

President Clinton Travels to New Orleans

	* The President travelled to New Orleans continuing his push in
support of the North American Free Trade Agreement.  Speaking
before an enthusiastic crowd, Clinton spoke of NAFTA not only
being good for American jobs, "but the opportunity for us to get
off the defensive in our economic policies and go on the
offensive and try to build a world in which there are more
opportunities for Americans not only for good jobs, but for
growing incomes."

	Returning to the port that President Kennedy had dedicated
three decades earlier, the President spoke of Kennedy's "vision
of America that knew no limits; who believed that we ought to
face our challenges, that we ought to look outward to the world,
that we shouldn't hunker down; that we compete and win with any
people anywhere on Earth.  It is time that we reestablish that
belief, that conviction, that commitment."  President Clinton
was joined at the event by Senator John Breaux, Governor Edwin
Edwards, and eight House members.  

	* Nine members of the Cabinet fanned out across the country to
join the President in promoting the benefits of NAFTA. They will
be conducting scores of press interviews, and meeting with
community leaders in a dozen cities:  Bentsen--Chicago;
Babbitt--San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles;
Browner--Orlando; Tyson--Boston; Cisneros--Baltimore; 
Brown--Pittsburgh; Pena--Miami; Reich--New York; Espy--St. Louis.

 Environmental Groups Join VP Gore, Sen. Baucus to Endorse NAFTA 

	* Six national environmental groups endorsed NAFTA in a meeting
with Vice-President Gore, Senator Max Baucus, EPA Administrator
Carol Browner and USTR Mickey Kantor on Capitol Hill yesterday. 
Speaking to the gathering, Sen. Baucus said that NAFTA "is truly
a new breed of trade pact.  NAFTA certainly makes progress on
commercial fronts; but, unlike any other trade agreement, it
also protects the interests of the environment and labor."

	* Endorsing groups:  National Wildlife Federation; World
Wildlife Fund; Audubon Society; Environmental Defense Fund;
Natural Resources Defense Council; Conservation International.

NAFTA Fact

	* On June 21, General Motors and the United Auto Workers
announced that GM would shift 800 to 1000 jobs building Chevy
Cavaliers from Mexico to its plant in Lansing, Mi. to serve
growing demand in the U.S. and Canadian markets.