Clinton Seeking Common Ground During 4-Day Visit to Chile

President Clinton launched a four-day Chilean visit Thursday by agreeing with President Eduardo Frei to cooperate on climate change, financial-market stability and other issues in a global economy.

But it was on a more down-to-earth level that Clinton sought to explain the ties that bind Chileans and Americans--on issues such as schools, child care, jobs and access to credit.

“Working families, in that sense, from Santiago to San Diego may not be all that much different,” Clinton said in a speech to business leaders.

To his disappointment, the globe-trotting president--who two weeks ago was on a 12-day tour of Africa--came to the Chilean capital having failed to get Congress to award him powers to make trade deals that would be immune from tinkering on Capitol Hill.

U.S. critics, who have denied Clinton “fast-track” authority, fear that unfettered global commerce would lead to the exploitation of workers and the environment, while the White House has said such power is crucial for the United States to remain a leading example in global trade policy.

“Be patient with us,” Clinton told about 800 business leaders in a downtown Santiago theater, pledging his commitment to gaining the presidential trade authority. “There is not a majority in either house of the United States Congress for a return to misguided protectionism.”

Clinton’s trip here has two distinct parts--a state visit, which ends today, then a hemispheric Summit of the Americas on Saturday and Sunday.

At the summit, political leaders will wrestle with issues of trade, anti-narcotics efforts and widespread poverty that continues to jeopardize reforms.

“Never before have the Americas been so united in values, interests and goals,” Clinton told the business audience, alluding to the widespread move toward free-market economies and political liberalization in a region that was home to brutal dictatorships not long ago. “We have to keep that in mind as there are bumps along the way.”

Clinton’s day began with a ceremonial airport arrival, followed by a helicopter ride to Santiago and a motorcade to the presidential palace, where he and Frei signed a series of accords.

In their vaguely worded agreement on climate change, the leaders agreed that industrialized nations such as the United States should reduce greenhouse gas emissions “as a matter of priority.”

And in a bid to handle one of the thorniest aspects of the issue--concerns that the cost of fighting pollution will hinder the prosperity of poorer nations--Clinton and Frei cited the importance of “market mechanisms” in promoting clean air and fighting climate change.

Such mechanisms, while not spelled out, are meant to ease the financial burden on developing countries in combating global warming. They could mean that advanced nations would receive credit toward emissions-reduction goals, for instance, by investing in clean-air technologies in poorer nations overseas. The United States and Argentina reached a similar accord in October.

“I know this is a matter of some controversy throughout Latin America, and indeed, throughout many developing nations,” Clinton said in a ceremony for the accord.

Picking up the theme later in his address to the business leaders, he knocked the notion that there is “some dark conspiracy to hold others down” through a global-warming deal.

“In the first place, that’s bad economics because the United States should want all of our trading partners to get wealthier,” he said. “That is what is in our interest.”

The leaders also agreed to cooperate in building a climate-forecasting system for the Americas, aimed at limiting the disruptive effects of El Nino.

While the Asian financial crisis has prompted jitters about the interlinked global financial system and the disruptive effects of emerging markets, Clinton on Thursday described South America as a successful contrast to Asian nations that have suffered capital flight.

“In general,” he said, “Latin America has grown so strong that I think even a lot of you are probably surprised that this region has weathered the shock of the Asian financial crisis as well as the region has.”

But he also noted that financial progress has not meant the end of inequities in a region with 150 million in poverty, and he urged South Americans to improve education as a social equalizer. He and Frei agreed on exchanges of students and teachers and other areas of educational cooperation.

“We have to continue to see the enhancement and broadening of democracy and free enterprise together,” Clinton told the businesspeople. “As we encourage more business contracts, we must also strengthen the social contract.”