We must pursue a deeper dialogue with China for the sake of our interests and our ideals.  An isolated China is not good for America.  A China playing its proper role in the world is.  I will go to China, and I have invited China’s president to come here, not because we agree on everything, but because engaging China is the best way to work on our common challenges, like ending nuclear testing, and to deal frankly with our fundamental differences, like human rights.

The American people must prosper in the global economy.  We’ve worked hard to tear down trade barriers abroad so that we can create good jobs at home.  I’m proud to say that today America is once again the most competitive nation and the No. 1 exporter in the world.

Now we must act to expand our exports, especially to Asia and Latin America, two of the fastest-growing regions on earth, or be left behind as these emerging economies forge new ties with other nations.  That is why we need the authority now to conclude new trade agreements that open markets to our goods and services even as we preserve our values.

We need not shrink from the challenge of the global economy.  After all, we have the best workers and the best products.  In a truly open market, we can out-compete anyone, anywhere on earth.

But this is about more than economics.  By expanding trade, we can advance the cause of freedom and democracy around the world.  There is no better example of this truth than Latin America where democracy and open markets are on the march together.  That is why I will visit there in the spring to reinforce our important ties.

We should all be proud that America led the effort to rescue our neighbor, Mexico, from its economic crisis.  And we should all be proud that last month Mexico repaid the United States, three full years ahead of schedule, with half a billion dollar profit to us.

America must continue to be an unrelenting force for peace.  From the Middle East to Haiti, from Northern Ireland to Africa, taking reasonable risks for peace keeps us from being drawn into far more costly conflicts later.  With American leadership, the killing has stopped in Bosnia.  Now the habits of peace must take hold.

The new NATO force will allow reconstruction and reconciliation to accelerate.  Tonight I ask Congress to continue its strong support of our troops.  They are doing a remarkable job there for America, and America must do right by them.

Fifth, we must move strongly against new threats to our security.  In the past four years, we agreed to ban—­we led the way to a worldwide agreement to ban nuclear testing.

With Russia, we dramatically cut nuclear arsenals and we stopped targeting each other’s citizens.  We are acting to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands, and to rid the world of land mines.

We are working with other nations with renewed intensity to fight drug traffickers and to stop terrorists before they act and hold them fully accountable if they do.