 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you. And I was listening and I almost didn't come out here. Well, thank you and thank you all. Welcome once again to the White House complex. You know as well as I do that Washington isn't always the easiest city in which to achieve a sense of shared purpose or common vision. Indeed, I'm often reminded of Harry Truman's famous comment on our nation's capital. He said, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. But between this administration and the American Business Conference, there's been true friendship from the very first. It's been a friendship based not upon politics, but upon convictions. The conviction above all that it's in economic freedom that men and women can give the fullest expression of their inborn creativity. That it's an economic freedom that leads most directly to economic productivity and growth. In 1981, ABC was a co-founding member of the Tax Action Group, a group that proved crucial in convincing Congress to pull or pass our historic tax cut. The myth is means that you not only participated in the shaping not only of American history, but of world history. For I don't know whether you're aware of it, but the tax revolution has spread to the tax cut revolution, has spread to nations as diverse as India, Indonesia and Canada. And it was just last week that the British unveiled in the House of Commons Tax Reform for Great Britain, a reform that I'm convinced will contribute to the already growing British economy, England may be the mother of parliaments, but from the Boston Tea Party to this administration, it's the United States that has been the mother of taxary false revolts. That's a pretty good line. I can hardly wait to try it out on Margaret Thatcher. But in 1983, I made a trip to Boston to demonstrate our commitment to high-tech entrepreneurship. I stopped at the Millipore Corporation and spent most of a full and happy day listening to America's winning companies and their formulas for economic growth. In 1984, you of ABC issued your historic study on the cost of capital, a study that gave us vital clues on how to keep our economic recovery gaining strength. In 1985, it was while addressing you that I warned the would-be tax hikers in Congress that I had my veto pen at the ready and dared them to make my day. In 1986, ABC played a key role in passing Graham Rudman Hollings and our historic tax reform. In 1987, you of ABC took a lead role in forming COMET, the Free Trade Coalition, a coalition that from its inception has helped me to stave off protectionist legislation. And now in 1988, you of ABC represent one of the leading advocates of the trade accord between the United States and Canada, one of the most important trade agreements ever concluded. And in a moment, I'd like to discuss world trade with you in some detail. But before I do so, it's clear from all I've just said that we have indeed been through a great deal together. You and I, and I just want to pause for a moment and let you know how much your friendship and support have meant to me and to say from my heart, I thank you. Yet there's a great deal still to do in these remaining 10 months. And so to get on with business, let's consider for a moment America's role in international trade. Now you'd think the United States never exported so much as a paperclip. The truth is that today America can claim surging manufacturing exports, the longest peacetime expansion on record, and the reality that more Americans are at work today than ever before. And in today's climate, I can just see some of those people out there saying, oh yes, but that's because of the increase in population. Well, there's an answer to that. We have the highest percentage of the potential work pool employed than ever in the history of our nation. So that takes care of the increase in population charge. But the critics never learned. Since the third quarter of 1986, the volume of American exports has been growing some four times as fast as the volume of imports. And much of this export surge is in manufacturing exports. Industry after industry is finding itself in an export boom. As Business Week Magazine reported recently, and I'll quote, basic manufacturers once considered a dying breed are selling products many thought wouldn't even be made in the United States any longer. Escalators to Taiwan, machine tools to West Germany, lumber to Japan, shoes to Italy. Well, the dollars helped, of course, but what's happening here goes beyond the dollar. Since 1980, the U.S. manufacturing economy has increased its productivity more than three times as much as in the previous seven years. The result is that, as one German manufacturing expert put it recently, the United States is the best country in the world in terms of manufacturing costs. Well, all of this adds up to one thing, as another economics writer reported recently. One of the best kept secrets in economic circles these days is that the Reagan administration, thank you, could end with a bang, not a whimper, as the nation makes an apparently successful shift to an export-led economy. And I overheard some of those remarks before I came in, and it's absolutely true, I have not quacked once. Too many backers of the trade bill currently under consideration in Congress talk about making America more competitive, but support provisions that would do just the opposite. They talk about saving jobs, but they want provisions that have the potential to destroy thousands, if not millions, of American jobs. We've listed our objections to this bill in detail for the House-Senate conference members. My veto pen remains ready and available if the final work product of the conference remains anti-trade, anti-consumer, anti-jobs, and anti-growth. But my hope, which I believe you share, is that I won't have to use that pen. Now, you all know that the House-Senate conference on the trade bill is working away and plans to finish its job soon. The conference process got off to a good constructive start earlier this month. However, many objectionable provisions remain, including proposed procedural changes in the law. But I'm hopeful that in the next phase, these will be jettisoned. Only wholesale elimination of many of the existing items will produce a bill that I can sign. But there's another vital trade matter before the Congress, one that gives the Congress the opportunity to take positive and indeed historical action. I refer, of course, to our free trade agreement with Canada. Already, our two nations generate the world's largest volume of trade. Canada is by far our largest trading partner. And consider this one fact alone. The United States exports more to the province of Ontario than did the entire country of Japan. With this agreement, Canada and the United States will be the largest free trade area on Earth. As Prime Minister Mulroney has said, it will bring us to a new decade and a new century on the leading edge of the world's trade and commerce. Well, we're tearing down the walls, the tariffs that block the flow of trade, and eliminating the tangle of restrictions and regulations that bind our commerce and inhibit economic cooperation. As this agreement takes effect, Americans and Canadians will conduct business, invest and trade where they like, rejecting beggar-thy-neighbour policies and putting aside special interests in favour of the common interest. We've broken new territory by covering areas such as investment and services, traditionally beyond the scope of trade agreements. What better example could there be for the GATT Uruguay Round, which is currently underway in Geneva? But success will depend in large part on people like you who are willing to operate in a truly free environment for trade and investment. And I'll be looking for your support in obtaining congressional approval for this historic path-breaking agreement. Now, I know it's bad manners to quote oneself, so please forgive me if I read you a few lines from a speech I delivered all the way back in November of 1979. A developing closeness between the United States, Canada and Mexico could serve notice on friend and foe alike that we are prepared for a long haul, looking outward again and confident of our future, that together we're going to create jobs to generate new fortunes of wealth for many and provide a legacy for the children of each of our countries. 200 years ago we taught the world that a new form of government created out of the genius of man to cope with his circumstances could succeed in bringing a measure of quality to human life previously thought impossible. Let us dare to dream, I said, of some future date when the map of the world shows a North American continent united in commerce, committed to freedom where borders become what the U.S.-Canadian border is today, a meeting place rather than a dividing line. My friends, I look forward to working with you once again on behalf of the economic freedom in which we both so deeply believe. Yes, let us dare to dream and let us work on to make our dreams come true. I'm going to finish with just one thing I know I should have quit long ago, but it's just a little item that during the war when I was flying a desk for the air court in uniform, I came across something that has been a kind of a symbol of government to me and its mistakes. Someone had started, there was a warehouse full of filing cabinets. Someone had inspected them and found that they didn't even have historical interest and there was no absolute use to them whatsoever. So, in that military type of correspondence, we started up through the channels a letter requesting permission to destroy those files so that we could use those file cases for things current. And all the way it went up being endorsed till finally the top level. And then it came back down being endorsed all the way, permission granted for the destruction of those files, providing copies or meat of each one. Oh, thank you. God bless you all. Mr. President, this membership meeting of the American Business Conference marks the seventh time during your administration that you have taken the time and effort to meet with us. This close relationship with you has been an honor and a privilege that each of us in the organization will always cherish. And Mr. President, we are dedicated to continuing that relationship beyond 1988. As you know, our organization is composed of 100 chief executive officers of America's major growth companies, the most successful entrepreneurs in the nation. And though our membership is limited by charter to no more than 100, today we've made a very special exception to the rules. There's no doubt that you have the qualifications to stand as a member of the American Business Conference. You've served for nearly eight years as the chief executive officer of the world's most successful venture. Almost single-handedly, you've provided the direction and the vision to keep that venture on course and moving forward. And so, in recognition of our long and fond association, we bestow upon you, Mr. President, this membership card which confirms you as an honorary member of the American Business Conference, as a matter of fact, as its 100th and first honorary member. There's only one condition that goes with this and it's in our bylaws that every member of ABC must carry their card with them. This may give me a little problem in revolving doors, but I can't tell you how much this means to me, albeit liberty in 10 months. That does conclude our program for today.