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Presidential Candidates on Trade
Americas Policy Program
(April 7, 2008) There is little difference between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on international trade issues, although neither has provided much detail and both have shown some ambivalence in their views.
Both candidates have said that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is "flawed" and that it "lacks labor standards and environmental standards" and that it has hurt the United States. Obama states that the agreement has "helped Wall Street but hurt Main Street" and Clinton asserts that we need to do more to "protect our workers."
Both candidates believe NAFTA should be renegotiated, in Clinton's words "on terms favorable to all of America." The candidates cite the negative impact of NAFTA on labor and believe that the agreement must be amended to discourage factory closures and include more retraining and transition programs. The senators often cite the thousands of jobs that have been lost in the United States due to NAFTA, especially when campaigning in the states that have been hardest hit by the agreement, notably Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Differences arise in the analysis of past positions. Obama faults Clinton for her past position in support of NAFTA and favorable evaluation of the agreement. Clinton now states that NAFTA has "winners and losers" and has called for a "time-out" on new free trade agreements (FTAs). Obama states he has always opposed NAFTA. However, both candidates came out in favor of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, although neither cast a vote in the Senate at the December vote.
Although both occasionally mention the relationship between free trade policies and expulsion of migrants, neither has drawn a direct policy connection. Overall, the debate has been limited, with few details or commitments. There have been few statements on the effects of free trade agreements on developing countries like Mexico and Central America.
Republican John McCain is pro-free trade. McCain has had to strike a careful balance between calls for a totally "free-market" and acknowledgement of the loss of jobs in the United States connected to free trade agreements. He has taken the stance that free trade is more helpful than harmful and that any harm that has resulted is due to distortions caused by protectionism rather than the FTAs. It is important to note, however, that McCain takes a hard stance against protectionism. McCain voted for CAFTA and NAFTA and makes it clear that he supports both. Interestingly, McCain is against the inclusion (in trade agreements) of any provisions that "address environmental concerns and protect workers' rights."
McCain's central argument is that free trade is the goal, it's working well, and we just need to work toward making it "freer."
The following are the candidates' positions on (1) their assessment of NAFTA, (2) renegotiation of NAFTA, (3) pending Free Trade Agreements, (4) future Free Trade Agreements, and (5) labor and environmental standards.
Hillary Clinton on Trade
- Assessment of NAFTA:
- "I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very
beginning. I didn't have a public position on it,
because I was part of the administration, but when I
started running for the Senate, I have been a
critic. I've said it was flawed. I said that it
worked in some parts of our country, and I've seen
the results in Texas. I was in Laredo in the last
couple of days. It's the largest inland port in
America now. So clearly, some parts of our country
have been benefited.
- But what I have seen, where I represent upstate
New York, I've seen the factories close and move.
I've talked to so many people whose children have
left because they don't have a good shot.
- I've had to negotiate to try to keep factories
open—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—because
the companies got tax benefits to actually move to
another country.
- So what I have said is that we need to have a
plan to fix NAFTA ... (quoted below).
- We will do everything we can to make it
enforceable, which it is not now." (Democratic
Debate Feb. 26, transcript at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23394129/)
Voted YES on establishing free trade between the United States and Chile, Singapore, and Oman.
- Voted against the Central American Free Trade
Agreement.
- "I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very
beginning. I didn't have a public position on it,
because I was part of the administration, but when I
started running for the Senate, I have been a
critic. I've said it was flawed. I said that it
worked in some parts of our country, and I've seen
the results in Texas. I was in Laredo in the last
couple of days. It's the largest inland port in
America now. So clearly, some parts of our country
have been benefited.
- Renegotiation of NAFTA
- "I have said that I will renegotiate NAFTA, so
obviously, you'd have to say to Canada and Mexico
that that's exactly what we're going to do."
- "I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we
renegotiate it, and we renegotiate on terms that are
favorable to all of America."
- "We need to have a plan to fix NAFTA. I would
immediately have a trade timeout, and I would take
that time to try to fix NAFTA by making it clear
that we'll have core labor and environmental
standards in the agreement." (The agreement
currently includes "side agreements" on environment
and labor that do not form part of the core text:
ed.)
- "I believe that all trade agreements must have
strong labor and environmental provisions. That is
why, as president, I will thoroughly review NAFTA
and make necessary changes." Committed to
renegotiate CAFTA and NAFTA during her first term in
office. (Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition
Questionnaire Feb. 2008)
- "I have said that I will renegotiate NAFTA, so
obviously, you'd have to say to Canada and Mexico
that that's exactly what we're going to do."
- Pending Free Trade Agreements
- Senator Clinton has come out against approval of
the Colombia, Panama, and South Korean Free Trade
Agreements.
- Senator Clinton has come out against approval of
the Colombia, Panama, and South Korean Free Trade
Agreements.
- Future Free Trade Agreements
- Clinton calls for a timeout on future agreements
until studies have assessed the impact and
modifications have been made in the model.
- "I have actually voted to toughen trade
agreements, to try to put more teeth into our
enforcement mechanisms. And I will continue to do
so."
- "Every trade agreement must have strong and
enforcement (sic) labor and environmental provisions
and those provisions should be subject to the same
enforcement mechanisms as the commercial
provisions." (Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition)
- Answered yes to question "Will your
administration ensure future trade agreements do not
include private investor-state enforcement systems
and also ensure that state-state investment rules do
not grant foreign investors and overseas companies
greater rights than U.S. residents or businesses?"
(Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition)
- Clinton calls for a timeout on future agreements
until studies have assessed the impact and
modifications have been made in the model.
- Labor and Environmental Standards
- "We will do everything we can to make it
enforceable, which it is not now. We will stop the
kind of constant sniping at our protections for our
workers that can come from foreign companies because
they have the authority to try to sue to overturn
what we do to keep our workers safe."
- "We will opt out [of NAFTA] unless we renegotiate the core labor and environmental standards"
- "We will do everything we can to make it
enforceable, which it is not now. We will stop the
kind of constant sniping at our protections for our
workers that can come from foreign companies because
they have the authority to try to sue to overturn
what we do to keep our workers safe."
Barack Obama on Trade
- Assessment of NAFTA:
- "If we cannot have stronger labor standards,
environmental standards, and safety standards, then
my job as president will be to look at what effect
this has on the economy overall. Let me give you a
very specific example. It is true that some of the
border communities along Mexico and Texas have
benefited from NAFTA. What is also true is that
there are enormous numbers of Mexican agricultural
workers and farmers who've been displaced, and part
of the reason that we've seen such a problem with
immigration over recent years is the grinding
poverty that exists in Mexico.
- And so I can't look just anecdotally at where it
has helped, I want to look at overall, can we
improve this so that it's good not only for workers
in Ohio and workers in Texas, but also good for
workers in Mexico who right now can't support
themselves and ending up coming here and potentially
depressing U.S. jobs as well."
- "I voted against CAFTA and never supported
NAFTA."
- Voted YES on free trade agreement with Oman.
- "If we cannot have stronger labor standards,
environmental standards, and safety standards, then
my job as president will be to look at what effect
this has on the economy overall. Let me give you a
very specific example. It is true that some of the
border communities along Mexico and Texas have
benefited from NAFTA. What is also true is that
there are enormous numbers of Mexican agricultural
workers and farmers who've been displaced, and part
of the reason that we've seen such a problem with
immigration over recent years is the grinding
poverty that exists in Mexico.
- Renegotiation of NAFTA
- "NAFTA's shortcomings were evident when signed
and we must now amend the agreement to fix them."
- "We must add binding obligations to the NAFTA
agreement to protect the right to collective
bargaining and other core labor standards recognized
by the International Labor Organization. Similarly
we must add binding environmental standards so that
companies from one country cannot gain an economic
advantage by destroying the environment. And we
should amend NAFTA to make clear that fair laws and
regulations written to protect citizens in any of
the three countries cannot be overridden simply at
the request of foreign investors."
"There's no doubt that NAFTA needs to be amended. I've already said I would contact the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada to make sure that labor agreements are enforceable. But I did want to just go back briefly to the issue of trade and human rights that you had mentioned. We have to stand for human rights, and that should be part of the trade equation."
- "I would immediately call the president of
Mexico, the president of Canada to try to amend
NAFTA because I think that we can get labor
agreements in that agreement right now. And it
should reflect the basic principle that our trade
agreements should not just be good for Wall Street,
it should also be good for Main Street."
- "NAFTA's shortcomings were evident when signed
and we must now amend the agreement to fix them."
- Pending Free Trade Agreements
- South Korea: (opposed) "While the agreement
would lead to a significant increase in wealth for
banks, telecommunications firms, and some in
corporate agriculture, it fails to ensure that all
U.S. products—especially our cars and trucks, but
our rice and beef producers as well—receive fair
treatment in that market. Our employers and workers
can compete against employers and workers everywhere
in the world, but they should not be exposed to
competition against governments systematically
discriminating against our products."
Opposes the Panama FTA until the situation regarding Miguel Gonzalez Pinzon is resolved and only then if "it does not bear the flaws of other NAFTA-style agreements."
- South Korea: (opposed) "While the agreement
would lead to a significant increase in wealth for
banks, telecommunications firms, and some in
corporate agriculture, it fails to ensure that all
U.S. products—especially our cars and trucks, but
our rice and beef producers as well—receive fair
treatment in that market. Our employers and workers
can compete against employers and workers everywhere
in the world, but they should not be exposed to
competition against governments systematically
discriminating against our products."
- Future Free Trade Agreements
- "We do export a lot of agricultural goods, many
of that through trade agreements. And I think we've
got to do three things: We have to have more focus
on family farms. We've got to do more to make sure
trade agreements are not only good for the exporting
of agricultural products from great big
agribusiness, but also for small farmers.
- "... trade needs to become a win-win. People ask
me, am I a free trader or a fair trader? I want to
be a smart, pro-American trader. And that means we
look for ways to maximize the impact of what we're
trying to export and quit being taken advantage of
by other countries."
- "We do export a lot of agricultural goods, many
of that through trade agreements. And I think we've
got to do three things: We have to have more focus
on family farms. We've got to do more to make sure
trade agreements are not only good for the exporting
of agricultural products from great big
agribusiness, but also for small farmers.
- Labor and Environmental Standards
- "Strong, enforceable labor and environmental
provisions must be part of the core text of every
trade agreement. If they are not, our workers will
have to compete on an unfair playing field. That is
not acceptable."
- "And as president of the United States, I intend
to make certain that every agreement that we sign
has the labor standards, the environmental
standards, and the safety standards that are going
to protect not just workers, but also consumers. We
can't have toys with lead paint in them that our
children are playing with. We can't have medicines
that are actually making people more sick instead of
better because they're produced overseas."
- "In a February 2008 speech at the General Motors
plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, Obama said he "will
not sign another trade agreement unless it has
protections for our environment and protections for
American workers."
- "We'll add binding obligations to protect the
right to collective bargaining and other core labor
standards recognized by the International Labor
Organization. And I will add enforceable standards
to NAFTA, the World Trade Organization (WTO), CAFTA,
and other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) currently in
effect."
- "We should add binding environmental standards so that companies from one country cannot gain an economic advantage by destroying the environment."
- "Strong, enforceable labor and environmental
provisions must be part of the core text of every
trade agreement. If they are not, our workers will
have to compete on an unfair playing field. That is
not acceptable."
John McCain on Trade
- Assessment of NAFTA:
- "NAFTA has had unambiguously positive impact on
the United States. While the effects of the NAFTA
are being closely monitored by supporters and
critics of that pact alike, it has become clear that
NAFTA represents an important component of our
international economic policy, contributing to the
creation of 300,000 new American jobs since its
passage. It will likely be several more years before
its full impact can be determined. The results from
the first five years, however, unambiguously
demonstrate that the agreement has a net positive
impact on the U.S. economy."
- "NAFTA has had unambiguously positive impact on
the United States. While the effects of the NAFTA
are being closely monitored by supporters and
critics of that pact alike, it has become clear that
NAFTA represents an important component of our
international economic policy, contributing to the
creation of 300,000 new American jobs since its
passage. It will likely be several more years before
its full impact can be determined. The results from
the first five years, however, unambiguously
demonstrate that the agreement has a net positive
impact on the U.S. economy."
- Renegotiation of NAFTA
- None, fully supports NAFTA.
- None, fully supports NAFTA.
- Pending Free Trade Agreements
- Supports all pending FTAs.
- Supports all pending FTAs.
- Future Free Trade Agreements
- "I'm a student of history. Every time the United
States has become protectionist and listened to the
siren song that you're hearing partially on this
stage tonight, we've paid a very heavy price. The
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Acts in the 1930s were direct
contributors to World War II. It sounds like a lot
of fun to bash China and others, but free trade has
been the engine of our economy. Free trade should be
the continuing principle that guides this nation's
economy."
- Voting Record
- Pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-MFN, pro-Fast
Track.
- Voted YES on free trade agreement with Oman,
CAFTA, Singapore, Chile, Andean Community,
Vietnam, and for permanent normal trade
relations with China.
- Pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-MFN, pro-Fast
Track.
- Against U.S. farm subsidies
- "We should make sure that every nation
respects human rights, and we should advocate
that and try to enforce it. I will open every
market in the world to Iowa's agricultural
products, and eliminate subsidies on ethanol and
other agricultural products. Subsidies are a
mistake, and I don't believe that anybody can
say that they're a fiscal conservative and yet
support subsidies which distort markets and
destroy our ability to compete in the world, as
well as our ability to get cheaper products into
the United States."
- "We should make sure that every nation
respects human rights, and we should advocate
that and try to enforce it. I will open every
market in the world to Iowa's agricultural
products, and eliminate subsidies on ethanol and
other agricultural products. Subsidies are a
mistake, and I don't believe that anybody can
say that they're a fiscal conservative and yet
support subsidies which distort markets and
destroy our ability to compete in the world, as
well as our ability to get cheaper products into
the United States."
- "I'm a student of history. Every time the United
States has become protectionist and listened to the
siren song that you're hearing partially on this
stage tonight, we've paid a very heavy price. The
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Acts in the 1930s were direct
contributors to World War II. It sounds like a lot
of fun to bash China and others, but free trade has
been the engine of our economy. Free trade should be
the continuing principle that guides this nation's
economy."
- Labor and Environmental Standards
- Believes that there should be NO environmental
provisions in trade agreements.
- Q: Should trade agreements include
provisions to address environmental concerns and to
protect workers' rights? A: No.
- Free trade with any country except security
risks
- "I don't believe in walls. I believe in freedom. If I were president, I would negotiate a free trade agreement with almost any country willing to negotiate fairly with us. Only risks to the security of our vital interests or egregious offenses to our most cherished political values should disqualify a nation from entering into a free trade agreement with us."
- Believes that there should be NO environmental
provisions in trade agreements.
The Americas Policy Program is found at www.americaspolicy.org. This information was compiled with help from Johan Kharabi. This article first appeared on the Americas Policy Program website and may be viewed at http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5065.
Sources
Sources for Clinton information:
MSNBC Democratic Candidates debate, Feb. 26, 2008
CATO website: http://www.freetrade.org/congress
Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition Questionnaire: http://www.wisconsinfairtrade.org/
Texas, Ohio, and Iowa Fair Trade Coalitions Questionnaires: http://www.citizen.org/trade/
Sources for Obama information:
Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and Iowa Fair Trade Coalitions Questionnaires: http://www.citizen.org/trade/
MSNBC Democratic debate, Feb. 26, 2008
CNN Democratic debate, Feb. 21, 2008
Campaign booklet, "Blueprint for Change," pp. 10-15, Feb. 2, 2008
2007 AFL-CIO Democratic primary forum, Aug. 7, 2007
Campaign website, BarackObama.com, "Resource Flyers," Aug. 26, 2007
ABC News, April 23, 2007
Sources for McCain information:
National Political Awareness Test (NPAT) Nov. 7, 2004
CATO website, www.freetrade.org
Speech to National Press Club, May 20, 1999
2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate, Dec. 12, 2007
2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan, Oct. 9, 2007
Senate statement, "Drug Free Borders," Mar. 18, 1999