[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
My
fellow Americans:
This week, as we prepared for Thanksgiving, Canada held an important election,
and I'm pleased to again send my congratulations to
Prime Minister Mulroney. One
of the important issues in the Canadian election was trade. And like our own
citizens earlier this month, our neighbors have sent a strong message, rejecting
protectionism and reaffirming that more trade, not less, is the wave of the
future.
Here in America, as we reflect on the many things we have to be grateful for, we
should take a moment to recognize that one of the key factors behind our
nation's great prosperity is the open trade policy that allows the American
people to freely exchange goods and services with free people around the world.
The freedom to trade is not a new issue for America. In 1776, our Founding
Fathers signed the
Declaration of Independence, charging the British with a
number of offenses, among them, and I quote, "cutting off our trade with all
parts of the world,'' end quote.
And that same year, a Scottish economist named
Adam Smith launched another
revolution with a book entitled
The Wealth of Nations, which exposed for all
time the folly of protectionism.
Over the past 200 years, not only has the
argument against tariffs and trade barriers won nearly universal agreement among
economists but it has also proven itself in the real world, where we have seen
free-trading nations prosper while protectionist countries fall behind.
America's most recent experiment with protectionism was a disaster for the
working men and women of this country. When Congress passed the
Smoot-Hawley
tariff in 1930, we were told that it would protect America from foreign
competition and save jobs in this country -- the same line we hear today. The
actual result was the
Great Depression, the worst economic catastrophe in our
history; one out of four Americans were thrown out of work. Two years later,
when I cast my first ballot for President, I voted for Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, who opposed protectionism and called for the
repeal of that
disastrous tariff.
Ever since that time, the American people have stayed true to our heritage by
rejecting the siren song of protectionism. In recent years, the trade deficit
led some misguided politicians to call for protectionism, warning that otherwise
we would lose jobs. But, they were wrong again. In fact, the United States not
only didn't lose jobs, we created more jobs than all the countries of Western
Europe, Canada, and Japan combined. The record is clear that when America's
total trade has increased, American jobs have also increased. And when our total
trade has declined, so have the number of jobs.
Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words.
We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war, for one
side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an
economic alliance that benefits both countries. There are no losers, only
winners. And trade helps strengthen the free world.
Yet, today protectionism is being used by some American politicians as a cheap
form of nationalism, a fig leaf for those unwilling to maintain America's
military strength and who lack the resolve to stand up to real enemies --
countries that would use violence against us or our allies.
Our peaceful trading
partners are not our enemies; they are our allies.
We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends -- weakening
our economy, our national security, and the entire free world -- all while
cynically waving the American flag.
The expansion of the international economy
is not a foreign invasion; it is an American triumph, one we worked hard to
achieve, and something central to our vision of a peaceful and prosperous world
of freedom.
After the Second World War, America led the way to dismantle trade barriers and
create a world trading system that set the stage for decades of unparalleled
economic growth. And in one week, when important multilateral trade talks are
held in Montreal, we will be in the forefront of efforts to improve this system.
We want to open more markets for our products, to see to it that all nations
play by the rules, and to seek improvement in such areas as dispute resolution
and agriculture. We also want to bring the benefits of free trade to new areas,
including services, investment, and the protection of intellectual property. Our
negotiators will be working hard for all of us.
Yes, back in 1776, our Founding Fathers believed that free trade was worth
fighting for. And we can celebrate their victory because today trade is at the
core of the alliance that secure the peace and guarantee our freedom; it is the
source of our prosperity and the path to an even brighter future for America.
Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you.
Original Text and Image Source:
reaganlibrary.gov
Original Audio Source:
archives.gov
Audio Note: AR-XE = American Rhetoric Extreme Enhancement
Page Updated: 4/6/25
U.S. Copyright Status:This text and audio = Property of
AmericanRhetoric.com.
