Trade & Manufacturing

U.S. trade policy under the Bush administration has failed in almost every important dimension. It has failed to create good jobs and healthy communities at home. It has failed to foster equitable, democratic and sustainable development abroad. It has failed to safeguard our long-term national security interests. And it has utterly failed to ensure that American producers and workers are able to compete successfully in the global economy. Millions of middle class-sustaining manufacturing jobs have disappeared as corporations have shipped operations overseas to take advantage of low wages and little regard for workers' rights.

Which 2008 presidential candidates agree and have solutions planned? And which remain proponents of unbalanced trade rather than fair trade?

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)

Clinton voted against CAFTA and a trade agreement with the Dominican Republic, but she voted for trade agreements with Oman, Singapore and Chile. (S. 3569, 6/29/06; S. 1307, 6/30/05; H.R. 2739, 7/31/03; H.R. 2738, 7/31/03)

Clinton voted against renewing Fast Track authority in 2002.

At the 2006 UAW legislative conference, Clinton discussed the importance of labor standards in trade agreements and why she voted against CAFTA:

"One of the reasons I voted against CAFTA is that it retreated from advances we were beginning to make at the end of the 1990s. We should never ever enter into a labor agreement in the 21st century that does not have labor and environmental standards in trade. Because if we don’t have trade agreements that lift the bottom up, we will see a race to the bottom.

"And that means we’ve got to enforce the trade agreements that are already on the books, something that this administration refuses to do. That is why we cannot grant Thailand access to the U.S. auto market. That would be just like admitting that we’re dying and would just speed the suicide.

"This makes no sense at all. I believe in trade. But I believe in trade where it’s not only on a level playing field but where we are lifting up the world not driving the American worker and the American standard of living down." (UAW Legislative Policy Conference, 2/8/06)

At the same conference, she talked about the importance of retaining manufacturing jobs in the United States:

“You know, we are in the position we find ourselves today—where we are losing good paying jobs, where wages are stagnant, where people are losing health care and pension security, and where we have a government that wants to undo the work of the 20th century…. And it just reinforced, for me, that whatever is wrong with American manufacturing can be fixed by doing what is right with American manufacturing and putting people in charge who know how to do that.

"We have competitive advantages that nobody in the world has. We have a strong, flexible, hard-working, experienced workforce. We just have to unleash you to be able to be competitive. We have a real commitment to innovation, but we don’t get any support from our government on that front. We have elected officials who are willing to stand up and form a consensus about how to enhance manufacturing." (UAW Legislative Policy Conference, 2/8/06)

"So what we’ve got to do is figure out how to incorporate those core labor standards to include the right to collective bargaining, to prohibit slave labor, to establish minimum age requirements for labor and, I would argue, even for minimum wage standards, and then to create strong mechanisms for enforcement." (Center for American Progress, 3/3/04) 

John McCain (R)

In an appearance in Miami's Little Havana, McCain said that as president “he would work on political, diplomatic and economic fronts to counter the rise of socialism, including efforts to spread free trade.” (Associated Press, 3/21/07)

In the Senate, McCain voted for Fast Track trade authority. He also voted in favor of CAFTA, as well as free-trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Oman and Australia. McCain voted to normalize trade relations with China and Vietnam and voted against the Schumer-Graham bill, which would have imposed tariffs on China as a penalty for currency manipulation.

In 2001, McCain voiced concern that Congress was showing "hostility" toward corporate-driven trade. In a statement praising the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement, McCain said:

"Indeed, it has seemed as though free trade is no longer a priority of this body. In addition to the strategic significance of this legislation to U.S.-Jordanian relations, it is my hope that passage of this bill represents a change in the direction this Congress will take toward a policy of free trade that has upheld our prosperity and advanced our values around the world." (McCain press release, 9/24/01)

Barack Obama (D)

Obama voted against CAFTA but for the Oman Free Trade Agreement. (H.R. 3045, 7/28/05; S. 3569, 6/29/06)

He said he opposed CAFTA because workers are not getting help dealing with the negative effects of the corporate-driven global economy.

"I wish I could vote in favor of CAFTA. In the end, I believe that expanding trade and breaking down barriers between countries is good for our economy and for our security, for American consumers and American workers.…I meet these workers all across Illinois, workers whose jobs moved to Mexico or China and are now competing with their own children for jobs that pay 7 bucks an hour. In town meetings and union halls, I've tried to tell these workers the truth—that these jobs aren't coming back, that globalization is here to stay and that they will have to train more and learn more to get the new jobs of tomorrow. But when they wonder how they will get this training and this education, when they ask what they will do about their health care bills and their lower wages and the general sense of financial insecurity that seems to grow with each passing day, I cannot look them in the eyes and tell them that their government is doing a single thing about these problems. That is why I won't vote for CAFTA." (Press release, 6/30/05)

Ronald Paul (R)

Paul says he backs free trade—meaning free of what he calls government interference—but opposes many trade agreements. He voted against CAFTA and free-trade agreements with Oman, Singapore and Chile. (H.R. 3045, Vote #209, 7/28/05; H.R. 5694, 7/20/05; H.R. 2739, 7/31/03; H.R. 2738, 7/31/03)

In an opinion piece on his views of CAFTA, Paul wrote:

"I oppose CAFTA for a very simple reason: It is unconstitutional….We don’t need government agreements to have free trade. We merely need to lower or eliminate taxes on the American people, without regard to what other nations do….CAFTA and other international trade agreements do not represent free trade. Free trade occurs in the absence of government interference in the flow of goods, while CAFTA represents more government in the form of an international body." (LewRockwell.com, 6/7/05)