Posted on 03/11/2008 9:33:27 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized his Democratic rivals on Tuesday for pledging to renegotiate a hemispheric trade treaty that Democrats blame for U.S. manufacturing job losses.
At a town-hall meeting in St. Louis, the Arizona senator also called for the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress to approve a free-trade treaty with Colombia that is being stymied on Capitol Hill.
"On trade, I'm a free trader," McCain told employees at Savvis Internet company, a session dominated by questions about the ailing U.S. economy.
McCain, the likely Republican nominee to run in the November election, is spending the week hop-scotching across several states raising money for his cash-strapped campaign ahead of a trip to the Middle East and Europe next week.
McCain, going to Jerusalem, London and Paris as part of a congressional delegation, said he would talk to NATO allies about Afghanistan and the need to do a better job in fighting the return of the Taliban.
He said he would reaffirm relationships he has with leaders there but would not intervene in U.S. efforts to arrange peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
"I just don't think it's appropriate for me to do so. But I certainly will be brought up to date and made aware of the, frankly, deterioration of the situation," he said.
In recent weeks, both Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have increased their criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement linking the U.S. economy with those of Canada and Mexico.
They pledged to pull the United States out of the NAFTA agreement if Mexico and Canada did not agree to renegotiate it. Critics blame NAFTA, China's accession to the World Trade Organization and other trade agreements for many of the roughly 3 million manufacturing jobs the United States has lost since 2000.
"I do not believe in isolationism and protectionism," McCain said. "We've got to stop this protectionist NAFTA-bashing."
The Bush administration -- noting that U.S. manufacturing output and exports set records last year -- argues that increased worker productivity and advances in manufacturing technology account for many of the lost jobs.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab argues NAFTA had been good for all three countries and warned reopening it could backfire on the United States.
McCain said promoting green technologies would help the U.S. economy rebound from manufacturing job losses.
"The moral of the story is, my friends, is we're not going back to the old manufacturing base of the economy," he said.
Such a free Traitor, he pimped for free trade with communists enemies Vietnam and China.
I’m not a democrat but I’m a NAFTA basher too. One more reason I won’t vote for that piece of trash.
I’ve never felt better about my decision to not vote for him, I will not vote for him.
Oh, it just gets better.
Senator, I am no “friend” of yours. You can repeat those words all you want, but they won’t make it so.
He seems to have some bizarre form of Tourettes syndrome that causes him to insult everyone around him.
McCain is toast.
Mccain needs to be Spitzer’d it’s our only HOPE.
Awwww, John, if you only had a brain, it would be a lot easier to support your if you weren’t wrong on so MANY things. Geez, you’re stupid....
But, given the prospect of Hillary, or far worse, the anti-messiah, Obama, I reluctantly support you. And plan on fighting you on Shamnesty when you try to ram it down America’s throats, again.
Dipstick...
McCain advisers lobbied for Airbus ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983892/posts
nothing to see here, move along .. :-)
I think the press has their talons out for McCain, all of a sudden. He may well wish they had ignored him for a few months.
Whether America manufactures everything should be determined based on comparative advantage (the difference in opportunity costs of producing on product vs another) and not on the various arguments about "lost manufacturing jobs".
...noting that U.S. manufacturing output and exports set records last year -- argues that increased worker productivity and advances in manufacturing technology account for many of the lost jobs.So which is better for the economy -- producing less and at a cost of 3 million more jobs, or producing MORE with fewer manufacturing jobs?
Memo to McAmnesty: I’m a conservative and an almost-former-Republican because of you and RINOs like you. And I’m against NAFTA and the version of so-called “Free Trade” you/RINOs favor because American jobs are lost, outsourced overseas, and American products are as rare on store shelves as snow in August!
Every time I think I may have to suck it up and very, very, very reluctantly push the voting button for him in November, he manages to say or do something that leaves me saying “never mind.”
The GOP is going to continue to lose until they learn to face the reality you stated in your comment. This isn’t about left vs right, it’s about right and wrong.
It’s interesting you say that, because it’s the only reason I can find to vote for him. Otherwise, he’s a Democrat.
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I agree. Let the Democrats pimp protectionism. Overall, NAFTA has benefitted American consumers greatly.
I’ve never believed in Nafta. It appears one sided, to our detriment, much like I view Kyoto accord. I coul;d believe in open trade if it was fair.
Put on your flame-retardant suit. In this bizzarro world, protectionism and mercantilism are somehow considered economic conservatism, and allowing the personality cult of Barak O’Carter gain the presidency is somehow considered standing up for conservative priciples.
No one has sufficiently explained the unfairness of it all.
if you don’t want to buy from china, don’t buy from china.
Just don’t tell other americans what to do with their own money and let’s get rid of the nanny state that tries to protect companies that can’t compete.
Exactly right!
The US should eliminate all trade barriers unilaterally. It should set an example for freedom.
and they think raising taxes somehow creates jobs
That would work on the blackboard, but you’d have a serious free-rider problem.
Your understanding of what China is doing via “free trade” is woeful.
What % of US intellectual property (software, music, firmware, designs, etc) does china actually pay for?
What taxes are put onto US products when they arrive on China’s shore? How about when Chinese products come here?
What punishment has China received for using US high tech products for their military applications, against the trade agreements and US law?
What is an offset? Why does China require them?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you don’t have any idea that our free trade is actually very poorly managed “managed trade”.
But I'm for free trade. If it weren't for NAFTA then Mexicans would have even less jobs and more Mexicans would move to the U.S.A. which McCain wants but I don't want.
American companies can't compete with those in other countries like China because liberals/Democrats/socialist have imposed so many environmental laws, OSHA, workmen's comp laws, Affirmative action, minimum wage laws , laws that allow unions and personal injury lawyers to sue,other laws and regulations and taxes that cripple U.S. businesses of all types but mainly manufacturing.
It seems like I'm splitting hairs, but it's nearly impossible to have a serious discussion about "free trade" (just as it is to have a serious discussion about "fair trade") if everyone makes up their definitions on the fly.
I’m for most trade deals but we have to get rid of this idea that trade barriers help us and that we’re only giving a favor when we eliminate them. Americans benefit from lower prices and more choices.
YES!!
In the early-90s, when Nafta was being promoted, I had a hard time deciding whether I agreed with it or not. The good versus the bad was difficult to gauge. The argument that eventually won me over was that it was supposed to help boost certain quarters of the Mexican economy, leading to a substantial decrease in illegal immigration! Being burned (severely) on that single point, I really don’t have any inclination to find myself ever defending the darned accord, even if some of the economic data might indeed prove positive.
You need to ask yourself: if we backed out of NAFTA tomorrow, would illegal immigration slow to a trickle or even stop? Don't kid yourself.
That’s why China in Walmart is unionized.....buy the communist party. That’s why Google and Yahoo has had to assist China in stamping out free speech on their internet. That’s why the PLA is embedded in so many of the high tech US-China partnerships. That’s why products by Chinese companies pop up all the time using stolen, bribed for, or reversed engineered patented technology and designs? That’s why they have the most aggressive corporate espionage system in the world?
You read about those successes in starbucks and Cat in selling to the chicoms, yet why don’t you mention that the trade deficit with China this past year grew another 11% to an all time high near $300 BILLION. Profits that are not just in the pockets of chinese businessmen, but the communist government, who is purhcasing, stealing and bribing for the most sophisticated military technologies on the planet.
If there’s anything we’ve learned, anything McCain is touting must be deeply flawed.
(Btw, try on any Target `Cherokee’ khakis before buying, unless you like that `skin-tight’ look; they’re now made in Vietnam, People’s Republic of, and I believe they used a starving Somali girl as their typical buyer.)
U.S.A. Manufacturing D.O.A.
It's just another location for these companies.
Yes the Chinese GOVERNMENT is doing a lot of bad things but so is the U.S. Government. What many are doing by cutting down trade with China is punishing private Chinese and American companies that operate in China that are providing many products we need.
You should draw a distinction between the Chinese government and private companies. There are some private companies in China that produce high quality, safe products at a low price and still follow all U.S. laws.
There you go again, the same old "comparative advantage" mantra. Perhaps you don't know, but when the classical liberals (Smith, Hume, Ricardo) promulgated their free trade theories, they prophesied that trade would be kept in balance by the exchange of gold.
Today, there is no gold standard or exchange. When a nation racks up a huge trade deficit year after year, eventually that country's currency will collapse. We're seeing the beginning of the collapse of the U.S. dollar.
Yes, there are some good Chinese companies making good products. In fact lots of them. In fact more and more US manufacturers are relocating to China everyday. Ones that do not need to. But China also has a very aggressive program to become the leading manufacturer in the world. They basically will give you the land to build a plant on if you relocate. They will also insist, however, that you share your manufacturing technology. And they will get to choose certain people you must hire.
And more likely than not, the relocated US manufacturer is actually going to hire a subcontracting firm to make their product, unless it is one of the big boys like CAT or GM, so they are not really manufacturerers anymore.
Plain old "cant" (an unsettled or unproven idea, argument or assertion endlessly repeated). Why don't you wise up, Ari? More former free traders are coming to the conclusion that the ongoing destruction of U.S. industry will eventually enslave us to mercantile nations.
You know, rudeboy, that there is no true free trade between nations. There are various degrees of freedom of trade. The U.S. is way up there near the top of that list.
Then there are our trading partners, like Japan, that practice adversarial trade. Take for example the massive dumping of TV sets by Japanese conglomerates in the late 1970's that drove out most all US TV manufacturers (except Zenith, which hung on 10 years longer). At the time, U.S. trade representative Robert Strauss knew about the dumping but did nothing to stop it. Why, I wonder?
BUMP
Average income in 1962 was about 3500-4000 per year, houses, in CA, cost about 8000 for a 2 bedroom one bath home at that time. That means I only had to work two years to earn the money to buy a house(if I managed to save it all). Today, the average income is about 50,000(correct me if I'm wrong)and houses are about 300,000. So now I would have to work 6 years to earn the money it takes to buy a house(if I managed to save it all). Times are not better, times are not even the same they are worse. Food, gas and all goods, except for a few electronic items, cost more comapared to what we make than they did in 1962.
Even though freetraders don't want to admit it, manufacturing is good for this country and not munaufacturing goods will be the downfall of our economy.
China on the other hand is not outsourcing their goods, they are making them as fast as they can produce them, and reaping the benefits, while we have idiots in this country saying it makes our country better not to build things. BS.
I hate NAFTA and Free Trade as is currently practiced. Our markets are open...the competition closes its markets and is subsidized by their government in most cases.
Yes- when the Republican presidential nominee spits on manufacturing and its workers...what a sad day for America.
Where did a so-called freetrader say it was bad for the US to have manufacturing? Maybe you have a link?
Since, the Chinese were allowed to dump their cheap crappy products on the market, they have driven out American competitors so we have no choice but to buy their garbage. I bought a Vizio TV from Sams because it was manufactured in the US.
McCain did...see above. He is so going to lose.
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