Representatives from the presidential campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., recently explained their candidates’ views on international trade, including NAFTA and the free trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama awaiting congressional approval. The discussion, which was organized by the Institute for Policy Innovation, also addressed the Democratic candidates’ earlier comments that they would seek to renegotiate NAFTA and “opt out” of the agreement if those efforts were unsuccessful.
John McCain. Doug Holtz-Eakin, senior policy advisor for Sen. McCain’s campaign, said that his candidate is determined to resist all calls for protectionism and that demonizing trade constitutes bad foreign policy. In addressing the Democrats’ recent comments on NAFTA, he said that renegotiating that agreement would send the wrong signal to Canada and Mexico, two of the United States’ largest trading partners, and that McCain would not make a unilateral attempt to open good faith agreements like NAFTA.
Holtz-Eakin emphasized that trade should not be considered in isolation within the U.S. economy but instead should be examined in the context of foreign and domestic policy goals. He also disputed the view that trade is the root cause of labor market difficulties, which he said are more attributable to technological advances. He noted that McCain believes in addressing job losses by modernizing the system of unemployment insurance and training and by using local college programs to assist those displaced by trade.
McCain would also not use labor and environmental issues to block trade, Holtz-Eakin said. Instead, he would monitor trading partners to determine whether they are improving their standards, which he believes would be far more effective than including labor and environmental standards in a trade agreement.
Barack Obama. Daniel Tarullo, a senior advisor for Sen. Obama’s campaign, stressed that Obama supports trade and globalization and believes in trade as an important component of a market-based economy. However, he also believes that the trade policies pursued by the U.S. have not achieved strong, sustainable domestic growth. Obama would therefore review the principles of and approaches to trade policy and determine whose interests they serve and how they affect people.
Tarullo reiterated Obama’s statements that labor and environmental standards should be included in FTAs. In addition, he said, Obama’s trade policy would address global imbalances in trade and how they are influenced by factors such as currency manipulation. An Obama administration would also approach potential trading partners differently and change the negotiating process by making it more open to more private parties.
As far as NAFTA is concerned, Tarullo said, Obama proposes to contact Canadian and Mexican leaders to negotiate the addition of binding labor and environmental standards to the agreement. Obama disapproves of the pending FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea but supported the Peru FTA because it contained a set of binding labor and environmental standards.
Hillary Clinton. Gary Gensler, senior advisor for Sen. Clinton’s campaign, said that trade is one aspect of Clinton’s overall economic policy and that she approaches this issue from the point of view of middle-income Americans. Clinton believes that the U.S. should assess its trade agreements every five years and would broadly evaluate all current FTAs upon taking office. She considers energy policy to be a significant factor in trade and would aim to eliminate two-thirds of U.S. oil imports by 2020.
Clinton maintains her stance that NAFTA is due for some changes, Gensler said, including the addition of provisions mandating labor and environmental standards. She would also strengthen enforcement mechanisms for trade agreements, including doubling the enforcement staff at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Domestically, Clinton would expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to cover services and would propose $10 billion over five years to assist any workers who lose their jobs, regardless of whether the job loss was trade-related.
World Trade/Interactive
