Clinton Vows to Seek Trade Pact Approval : Treaty: He meets Mexico’s president and says accord must be revised to address issue of jobs, environment.

President-elect Bill Clinton, reiterating his campaign position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, on Friday promised to seek approval of the pact provided it is amended to address his concerns about its effect on the environment and American jobs.

After a meeting here with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Clinton said he will appoint a senior official shortly after his inauguration to oversee ratification of the treaty. He pledged to move swiftly to negotiate amendments to the 2,000-page pact in Congress to deal with his concerns about job protection and the environment.

Clinton towered over the slight, balding Mexican leader as they faced reporters in front of the colonnades of the Texas governor’s mansion, where the talks took place. It was the President-elect’s first meeting with a foreign chief of state.

Clinton downplayed the importance of the meeting, calling it mainly a get-acquainted session rather than a substantive discussion, and said he did not negotiate with Salinas on specific issues raised by the treaty.

As the two spoke, scores of protesters across the street shouted slogans of opposition to the agreement and held up placards saying that it would cost American jobs.

The two leaders also discussed a range of bilateral issues, including immigration, narcotics traffic and environmental enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In addition, Salinas said they discussed Mexican “sovereignty and self-determination”--a reference to the 1989 abduction of Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, a physician who was suspected of involvement in the murder of American drug agent Enrique S. Camarena. The abduction angered Mexican officials and they are seeking a pledge from Washington that it will not attempt to enforce U.S. law on Mexican soil.

Alvarez Machain was acquitted of all charges in the Camarena case in a Los Angeles federal court last month.

At the press conference, Clinton repeated his opposition to such abductions, saying: “I believe that when another nation is willing to obey the law, and in the absence of information that the government itself has willfully refused to obey the law, that the United States should not be involved in kidnaping.”

Although pre-inauguration meetings between American presidents-elect and Mexican chiefs of state have become routine, this one carried particular importance because of the pending trade deal.

The treaty was signed by President Bush, Salinas and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney last month, but it awaits ratification by the legislatures in the three countries.

The meeting with Salinas was just a foretaste of the pressure that Clinton will face to draft legislation rapidly to execute the treaty and to push it through a reluctant Congress.

The Mexicans, allied with big-business interests in the United States, are the chief supporters of the pact. Mexican officials began pressing the President-elect for a meeting two days after the November election, according to Mexican sources in Washington, and they are mounting an intense multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to win early ratification of the agreement.

Among the treaty opponents are two forces that were important elements of Clinton’s electoral coalition--organized labor and environmental groups.

Many influential Democrats in Congress oppose the pact on grounds that it will cause massive job losses in automobiles, textiles and other key industries.

Clinton’s qualified support, announced late in last year’s presidential campaign, came only after months of wavering. He has said that he will sign the treaty only if side agreements are negotiated with Mexico to ensure adequate environmental standards for Mexican industry and protections for American workers who lose their jobs because of the pact.

Clinton also wants an amendment that would allow the United States to impose protectionist measures to deal with “import surges” and to prevent the wholesale migration of American industries to Mexico, where labor is less costly.

The Mexicans appear willing to negotiate those issues as the price of approval. But Salinas, reflecting his government’s hope that the treaty would be ratified more or less intact, said Friday: “We underlined that the text will not be reopened.”

The President-elect was accompanied Friday by Samuel (Sandy) Berger, who is to be deputy national security adviser, and foreign affairs aides Nancy Soderberg and Leon Fuerth.

Clinton’s appointee for trade representative, Mickey Kantor, and Secretary of State-designate Warren Christopher were deliberately left behind in an effort to lower the profile of the meeting, officials said.

Salinas’ party included his chief of staff, Jose Cordoba, and the new Mexican ambassador to Washington, Jorge Montano. His foreign affairs minister and chief trade negotiator remained in Mexico City, according to aides.