http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/freetrade/ en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:31:16 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050426/posts In any partnership, the coin of the realm is trust and responsibility - in other words, saying what you mean and doing what you say. In the dramatic rescue on July 2 of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held captive for many years by guerrillas and terrorists, deep in the Colombian jungles, we saw a powerful reminder that the United States has no better partner in South America than the government and people of Colombia. Colombia's leaders, especially President Uribe, had promised us that our three abducted citizens would be treated no differently than the many Colombian men and women... Real Clear Politics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050426/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:31:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050073/posts To CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" host, we live in a world of absolutes - because the potential of a government bailout of two publicly traded government-sponsored enterprises condemns the entire concept of free market capitalism. On the July 22 broadcast of Dobbs' show, he attacked proponents of free-market capitalism because of the potential trouble of the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE). "Well the - it's a, it's quite a mess, quite a mess indeed," Dobbs said. "And I love the idea that all these free traders, free marketeers now got to have the government... Newsbusters.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050073/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:44:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047492/posts Let's suppose that people do decide to "buy local" with the goal of saving the world and reducing their carbon footprint. This will increase the demand for locally grown foods, but it will also have an unintended and likely deleterious consequence; it will increase the demand for farm implements and labor. Since the decision to buy locally is essentially the decision to forsake comparative advantage, every unit of agricultural output will be more resource intensive than it would be under specialization, division of labor, and trade. In other words, each additional unit of output will require more resources than it... Mises.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047492/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:24:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046389/posts China's devastating pollution problems aren't just taking a toll on China -- they're also affecting the rest of the world, says New Republic. For example: Acid rain partly caused by Chinese sulfur emissions, pours down on Japan and South Korea. On some days, one-third of California's background air pollution -- consisting of dust, sulfur and trace metals -- can be traced back to China. Some 80 percent of the East China Sea, one of the world's largest fisheries, has become toxic, due to sewage dumps from the mainland. Even if the Chinese government does spruce up Beijing in time for... ncpa.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046389/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:54:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043969/posts Quo Vadis TPA? by: Emily Miller, July 11, 2008 Congressional leadership resistance and election year politics are to blame for stalling the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), said Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Christopher A. Padilla last week at the Heritage Foundation. The TPA, previously called the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, was signed by the U.S. and Colombia two years ago in November of 2006, yet it still awaits congressional approval needed for final passage. Padilla, frustrated with Congress’ inaction, points the finger at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for thwarting the TPA’s progress. The Bush administration... Campus Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043969/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:30:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040387/posts Yesterday, Barack Obama’s camp released a statement trying to slam John McCain’s current trip to South America. It read: “Senator McCain’s trip to Mexico and Colombia just underscores his insistence on continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies that have left nearly 2.5 million more workers unemployed, including unfair trade deals that have been written by lobbyists.” Well, the crusty old warhorse may be gaining on Mr. International in the global community, after all. Contrary to what Obama wants you to believe, McCain got a healthy burst of support from Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe yesterday. Uribe, who’s made admirable progress on... Commentary http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040387/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 19:17:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038158/posts It is a steel and concrete corridor that will run right through the Old Pueblo, connecting Mexico City to Edmonton, Alberta. Its purpose is to facilitate trade among the three countries and minimize traffic and congestion for residents. Or is it evidence of a move afoot to intertwine the three North American countries and blur the lines of sovereignty? That's a matter of opinion. Arizona Daily Star http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038158/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:47:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031323/posts It is rare when a government official actually blames himself for his mistakes. That straight talk occurred in the June 4 issue of Foreign Policy in Focus when Robert Cassidy, President Clinton's Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and China, took himself to task for the trade agreement he negotiated with China. He began: "As the principal negotiator for the landmark market access agreement that led to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I have reflected on whether the agreements we negotiated really lived up to our expectations. A sober reflection has led me to conclude that those... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031323/posts#comment Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:03:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029842/posts OTTAWA - Republican presidential candidate John McCain will give a speech next week in Canada about free trade, which could pull the country into the presidential debate once again. His presence and subject matter is bound to revive the controversy over NAFTA that embarrassed his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, earlier this year. McCain, an avowed free-trader, is to speak to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa on June 20, the club announced Wednesday. Obama's sincerity was called into question last March after the leak of a Canadian diplomatic memo, which summarized a meeting between senior Obama adviser Austan Goulsbee... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029842/posts#comment Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:09:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994667/posts By James A. Barnes, National Journal © National Journal Group Inc. Monday, March 31, 2008 If potential presidents can be judged by how they run their campaigns, then how they staff those efforts may provide important clues to the kinds of talent they would recruit for their administrations. Because Democratic front-runner Barack Obama is a relative newcomer to national politics, an examination of his inner circle of political and policy advisers offers new windows into his thinking, leadership style, and sources of expertise. The Democratic front-runner's team has a relatively shallow bench, but its political achievements thus far are quite... nationaljournal.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994667/posts#comment Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:12:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023445/posts I rarely write a column that receives more criticism from my conservative readers than from my liberal ones. And it is even rarer when the column in question approaches a topic from what is supposed to be a “conservative” perspective, as it usually does. Yet this is precisely what happened recently when I wrote a column titled “Memo to the Democrats: We Need Free Trade with China.” It targeted the leading anti-trade voices in the Democratic Party, particularly Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and continued by explaining why free trade with China does indeed benefit the United States, at least... North Star Writers Group http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023445/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 12:01:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2022646/posts Ford Motor Co. plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August as part of a restructuring in the face of slumping sales and record-high gas prices, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2022646/posts#comment Wed, 28 May 2008 21:35:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022560/posts The U.S.-Japan alliance has been the indispensable anchor of peace, prosperity and freedom in the Asia-Pacific for more than 60 years, and its importance will only grow in the years ahead. Deepening cooperation, consultation and coordination between Washington and Tokyo is the key to meeting the collective challenges that both of our nations face--from nuclear proliferation to climate change--and to advancing our common interest in building a safer, better world for all of our citizens. In many respects, the U.S.-Japan alliance has never been stronger. Polls consistently show deep support for the alliance among Americans and Japanese alike. Our security... The Yomiuri Shimbun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022560/posts#comment Wed, 28 May 2008 19:04:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018803/posts Those of us who support globalisation, who celebrate the way it has raised living standards and reduced poverty around the world, are forever worrying that there may soon be a backlash, a revival of protectionism and economic nationalism. We mutter angrily whenever politicians make nationalist noises. With Barack Obama emerging victorious as the Democratic candidate for America's November election, the muttering is going to resume - for against all his virtues, one of his vices is that he has been talking tough about trade. But on current evidence the muttering will be misplaced. The surprise is how nice he has... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018803/posts#comment Tue, 20 May 2008 19:56:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018780/posts Much of Barack Obama’s foreign policy doctrine hinges on the notion that he will be able to “repair” the image other nations now have of America. This line, which his supporters continue to iterate, is that a “new face“–one that looks different, and behind which sits a brain with a great understanding of others–will allow America to fix its PR problems abroad. However, if recent newspaper articles from outside the U.S. are any indication, Obama’s platform on trade signals that his presidency might not successfully accomplish this much-vaunted task. contentions http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018780/posts#comment Tue, 20 May 2008 19:24:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018419/posts Congress: What, exactly, does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest junket to Iraq have to do with her official duties? Her inability to keep her amateur fingers out of the foreign policy pie suggests a political power grab.Pelosi went to Iraq uninvited Saturday, and her reception was less than warm. Iraq's democratically elected Nouri al-Maliki government wanted nothing to do with her until she admitted the truth about Iraq's progress as a nation and quit braying that U.S. troops must be immediately pulled out, a proposal so naive that even radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr opposes it. Message through, Pelosi admitted that... IBD http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018419/posts#comment Tue, 20 May 2008 01:10:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013339/posts House Democrats recently inflicted a near-mortal blow to free trade. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, using her considerable procedural power, delayed indefinitely an up-or-down congressional vote on approving the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. True, scuttling this particular deal will neither crush the international trading system nor immediately inaugurate a new era of protectionist policies. Blocking a trade agreement with Colombia is not the 21st-century version of the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill. But the absence of more full-throated public support and effective response from free-trade advocates underscores a broader and more fundamental weakness in the way open-market proponents participate in the electoral process and... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013339/posts#comment Fri, 9 May 2008 00:03:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2012883/posts There are "seven meals between civilization and anarchy," says Josette Sheeran, executive director of United Nation's World Food Program. What takes those meals away, driving citizens to base needs and destabilizing countries? Growing demand, changing diets, weather disruption and, sadly enough, restricted trade. There has been little good news for food relief. A forecast today from Goldman Sachs said oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel in the next two years--dramatically driving up the price of producing and transporting food for the foreseeable future. The rising price of oil makes ethanol and other biofuels more viable, furthering... Forbes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2012883/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 07:22:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013242/posts In a region beset by runaway food costs, the socialist government of Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and its leftist allies appear to have found fertile ground to plant the seeds of revolutionary discourse. At an emergency food-security summit held Wednesday in Managua, Nicaragua, 14 Latin American and Caribbean nations convened under the umbrella of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the leftist trade bloc founded in 2004 by Cuba and Venezuela as an alternative to United States free-trade agreements. The summit was supposed to focus on how the countries can prevent food shortages and unrest as the global food crisis... Christian Science Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013242/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 21:19:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011575/posts WASHINGTON—In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was. "A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in Southern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers. China rapidly has become the leading... St. Louis Post-Dispatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011575/posts#comment Mon, 5 May 2008 20:30:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008559/posts Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?... Quarter Horse News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008559/posts#comment Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:29:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008151/posts History has taught us that other than raising taxes, nothing can be more damaging to the United States than assuming a protectionist posture during a time of economic downturn.  But that’s exactly the situation after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to bar a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Colombia Free Trade It is important the United States gains equitable access to the markets of fast-growing developing nations like Colombia.  Colombian-produced goods already enter the United States duty free, but American-manufactured goods exported to that country face stiff tariffs, ranging from eight percent to... The National Ledger http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008151/posts#comment Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:18:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2005065/posts Critics ask: Is Schaffer going soft on abortions? By Lynn Bartels Originally published 06:56 p.m., April 21, 2008 Updated 06:56 p.m., April 21, 2008 Republican Bob Schaffer, an ardent pro-life advocate in the state legislature and Congress, now faces critics who question whether he really opposes abortion. The criticism, which comes as Schaffer campaigns for the U.S. Senate, has upset some of his backers. "Of all the Colorado politicians that we have, this is one of the few where I would not question his commitment to pro life," said state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, a fellow Larimer County Republican. In recent... Rocky Mountain News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2005065/posts#comment Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:11:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004813/posts It is amazing how some presidential candidates are blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement for U.S. job losses. They seem to believe that a substantial part of the three million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 resulted from Nafta, and that outsourcing of manufacturing production to Mexico and Canada resulted in a huge trade deficit. ...What the antitrade advocates have been hiding from the candidates (or maybe don't know themselves) is that almost all of the increase in our Nafta deficit since 2000 has been in increased U.S. imports of energy from Canada and Mexico. In fact, $58 billion of... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004813/posts#comment Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:54:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003252/posts Huckabee & The Club friends at last? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the Republcian nomination for president, no one attacked him more often and with more conservative muscle than the uber-economic conservatives from The Club for Growth. Pat Tommey, chairman of The Club, wrote last October in The National Review that a flirtation with Huckabee even as a vice presidential candidate did a "great disservice to the conservative movement if it overlooks Huckabee’s stunning record of big-government liberalism.” So, it came as a bit of surprise to receive a blast e-mail from... Pittsburgh Tribune Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003252/posts#comment Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:22:24 GMT