CWT Blog

The Democratic Presidential Candidates on Trade

Posted by Consumers for World Trade Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:15:00 GMT

December 20, 2007 - A recent AP article asked both Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates their position on a wide range of issues from the Iraq war to stem cell research. On trade, the article stated this of the leading Democratic candidates:

Clinton: Seek to reopen North American Free Trade Agreement to strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental standards.

Edwards: Make human rights "central to our trade policy." NAFTA and other regional trade agreements have been a "total disaster." Supported bringing China into World Trade Organization, says it's "wrong to not hold them responsible for their obligations."

Obama: Seek to reopen NAFTA to strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental standards

Stump speeches by all three back up these broad positions on free trade.

John Edwards has taken the strongest position against trade. At a recent stump speech in Iowa, Edwards stated that he would would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and “come down hard” on the Chinese for dumping cheap goods on the American market. Edwards states: “… this agreement does not meet my standard of putting American workers and communities first, ahead of the interests of the big multinational corporations, which for too long have rigged our trade policies for themselves and against American families.” Here, Edwards fails to note that under this agreement, the United States gets to export products – made with middle-class American union labor – to Peru.

Of all the candidates, Hillary Clinton maintains the most detailed stance on trade. Like Edwards, she calls for a renegotiation of NAFTA in the name of protecting American workers and the inclusion of tough labor and environment standards in forthcoming free trade deals. However, her voting record remains an interesting mix of support and opposition to free trade. For example, she opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) but voted for the Australia free trade deal and supported Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization. A recent article also suggests that many of her husband's key trade and international economics advisors are now on the Clinton campaign. These were the same advisors that counseled the President in support of the creation of the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement – the same deal she now wants to renegotiate. This on-again-off-again position on trade has caught the eye of some influential labor leaders who would like to see a stronger anti-trade position from the former first lady.

Obama too has a somewhat on-again-off-again position on trade. The junior senator from Illinois supported the Oman free trade agreement yet opposed the Central American free trade deal stating that labor and environment provisions were lacking. According to his campaign website, international trade does not even make it onto the key issues he plans to tackle. Yet Obama has made statements that he wants to rengotiate NAFTA to include strict labor and environment provisions. One sound byte heard over an over again is that trade agreements should be good for Wall Street and for Main Street.