Presidential Documents

27813

Federal Register

Vol. 63, No. 97

Wednesday, May 20, 1998

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7097 of May 15, 1998

World Trade Week, 1998

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The American economy is experiencing its longest period of sustained growth

in more than a generation, with more than 15 million new jobs, the lowest

unemployment rate since 1970, and the lowest inflation rate in more than

30 years. Much of this economic expansion can be attributed to our overseas

trade. Today, America is the world’s leading exporter. Our exports sustain

12 million jobs—jobs that on average, pay more than jobs not tied to exports.

The extraordinary vigor of America’s economy reflects the 1998 theme of

World Trade Week: ‘‘Exporting Pays Off.’’

Our unparalleled capacity to develop and market high-technology products

and processes has given us a strong competitive edge in the international

marketplace in everything from aerospace to agriculture. Americans have

led the world into the Information Age, and we are poised to lead it into

an exciting new era of electronic commerce. Also central to our success

in the global economy has been our ability to open foreign markets for

American goods and services. During the past 5 years, my Administration

has negotiated more than 240 new trade agreements and strengthened efforts

to eliminate unfair trading practices in order to help American workers

and businesses compete in an international arena that is open and fair

and where trade rules are enforced.

To keep America growing, and to maintain our leadership in the global

economy, we must expand our exports. We must sustain our advantage

in information and other technologies by creating a business climate that

encourages investment, by continuing our support of education and research

in basic science and technology, and by ensuring that American workers

are the best-educated and best-trained work force in the world. The Bureau

of Labor Statistics estimates that we will need more than a million new

high-skilled workers during the next 10 years to power the information

technology field. We must provide working Americans with the skills and

training they need to seize these promising employment opportunities.

Our exports and our economic strength depend upon our access to an

open, stable, and growing world market. The nations of the world are becoming increasingly intertwined in a global economy. We must continue our

efforts to remove foreign barriers to American goods and services, to open

new markets, and to keep them open. This week, I will travel to Geneva,

Switzerland and address the World Trade Organization to underline just

how important free and open trade is to our future prosperity. Fast-track

trade authority has been a crucial tool in this endeavor in the past, and

it will become increasingly important to our ability to compete in the future

with other countries for new markets, new contracts, and new jobs. This

traditional trading authority will empower us to negotiate pro-growth, proAmerican trade agreements that will maintain the momentum of our economy

and ensure that American workers and American businesses can compete

on a level playing field with the rest of the world.
27814 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 97 /Wednesday, May 20, 1998 / Presidential Documents

America’s leadership in building an open, fair world trade system is paying

off in rewards for entrepreneurial initiative, higher wages for working Americans, incentives for technological advances and artistic creation, and prosperity for our Nation. By embracing the challenges of competing in the global

marketplace in the 21st century, we can ensure continued growth for American businesses, prosperity for working Americans, and a brighter future

for us all.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 17 through May

23, 1998, as World Trade Week. I invite the people of the United States

to observe this week with ceremonies, activities, and programs that celebrate

the potential of international trade.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day

of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and

of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred

[FR Doc. 98–13708

Filed 5–19–98; 10:30 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and twenty-second.

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