Ill STAT. 2908 PROCLAMATION 7004—MAY 19, 1997 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety- seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and tvk^enty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 7004 of May 19, 1997 World Trade Week, 1997 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Two statistics sum up both the challenge and the promise of today's dynamic global economy: 95 percent of the world's consiuners live outside the United States, and U.S. exports generated more than $830 billion in sales in 1996. The theme of this year's World Trade Week, "Make Locally, Sell Globally," exhorts American businesses to take advantage of the enormous commercial potential of the international marketplace, and we are poised to do so. Over the past 4 years, trade has spurred more than a quarter of our overall domestic economic growth. During this period, the United States under the leadership of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative signed more than 200 new trade agreements and is once again the world's leading exporter. In recent months, we have concluded historic agreements in the World Trade Organization that opened up the world telecommunications services market to U.S. firms. We also have negotiated a pact that will eliminate tariffs on information technology products by the year 2000. Together, these agreements offer American business better access to markets representing more than $1 trillion in goods and services and are models for further market-opening initiatives. The North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has not only increased trade with our member partners to a level of $425 billion annually, but also has provided greater stability to the global economy. We are committed to building on this success by achieving a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and we look toward a comprehensive trade agreement with Chile as the next concrete step in this direction. Selling globally also requires vigorous trade enforcement efforts, such as those we initiated recently by improving the protection of intellectual property rights in China and some 20 other countries around the world. Our ongoing efforts to eliminate trade barriers in Asia have already paid dividends—for example, U.S. exports to Japan have grown by more than 40 percent since 1993. We will also continue to strictly enforce existing trade laws to ensure that imported goods in U.S. markets do not enjoy an unfair advantage over those produced by U.S. companies and workers. We are committed to helping all U.S. businesses continue to succeed— not only by opening markets, but also by assisting U.S. exporters. My Administration, through the efforts of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, has developed a National Export Strategy to help smalland medium-size companies sell globally to realize their export poten-
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