NAFTA bashing popular, but is it justified?
Mar. 3, 2008
David Postman - The Seattle TimesIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
HANGING ROCK, Ohio _ Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama each spent the past week trying to outdo the other as the fiercer critic of America's free-trade policy.
It's an obvious campaign pitch in a state with a decaying manufacturing base and a displaced work force that blames free trade for sending jobs overseas and flooding the United States with cheap foreign goods.
The rhetoric culminated at a Cleveland debate in advance of Tuesday's key _ and perhaps deciding _ Ohio primary. Both candidates threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if the deal were not renegotiated to raise the labor and environmental standards of foreign competitors.
Those threats put the Democratic presidential candidates far ahead of some of their key supporters in Washington, D.C., who say withdrawing from NAFTA is impractical and could undermine America's standing in the world.
Obama's and Clinton's charges over trade policies also concern free-trade advocates. President Bush and the prime minister of Canada were disturbed by what was said in the debate, as were business interests and Democrats who helped make free trade a priority of Bill Clinton's presidency.
What has gone unsaid on the campaign trail is that there is little hard evidence NAFTA is to blame for Ohio's economic woes. In fact, last year Canada and Mexico were the state's top two export markets.
But it's easy to see why Obama and Clinton talk so much about trade while campaigning here.
Free trade has become to Democrats what immigration is to Republicans, said Edward Gresser, trade-policy director at the Progressive Policy Institute. Both issues tap into a sense of unease American workers feel about the future and the role of foreign influence.
A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports of likely Democratic voters in Ohio found 16 percent of them think NAFTA is good for America.
Anti-NAFTA sentiments likely aren't as strong in more trade-dependent states such as Washington or Texas, which also holds a primary Tuesday. In states where the economy is stronger and job opportunities more plentiful, workers tend to look more positively on trade deals.
It's an obvious campaign pitch in a state with a decaying manufacturing base and a displaced work force that blames free trade for sending jobs overseas and flooding the United States with cheap foreign goods.
The rhetoric culminated at a Cleveland debate in advance of Tuesday's key _ and perhaps deciding _ Ohio primary. Both candidates threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if the deal were not renegotiated to raise the labor and environmental standards of foreign competitors.
Those threats put the Democratic presidential candidates far ahead of some of their key supporters in Washington, D.C., who say withdrawing from NAFTA is impractical and could undermine America's standing in the world.
Obama's and Clinton's charges over trade policies also concern free-trade advocates. President Bush and the prime minister of Canada were disturbed by what was said in the debate, as were business interests and Democrats who helped make free trade a priority of Bill Clinton's presidency.
What has gone unsaid on the campaign trail is that there is little hard evidence NAFTA is to blame for Ohio's economic woes. In fact, last year Canada and Mexico were the state's top two export markets.
But it's easy to see why Obama and Clinton talk so much about trade while campaigning here.
Free trade has become to Democrats what immigration is to Republicans, said Edward Gresser, trade-policy director at the Progressive Policy Institute. Both issues tap into a sense of unease American workers feel about the future and the role of foreign influence.
A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports of likely Democratic voters in Ohio found 16 percent of them think NAFTA is good for America.
Anti-NAFTA sentiments likely aren't as strong in more trade-dependent states such as Washington or Texas, which also holds a primary Tuesday. In states where the economy is stronger and job opportunities more plentiful, workers tend to look more positively on trade deals.
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