Eyes on Trade: On the Campaign Trail

By Holly Shulman, Eyes on Trade. Posted September 17, 2007.

I'd like to introduce a new series called Trade on the Trail, each Friday bringing you what candidates have said on the campaign trail about trade that week.

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) released a statement on NAFTA trucks:

The Bush administration has allowed multinational corporations and their Washington lobbyists to jeopardize American highways and streets. They are putting profits over safety and pushing through this program without regard for the impact on the environment or the safety of America's workers and families. As president, I will enact smart trade policies that put workers, wages and families first.

Also, a Clinton spokesperson said to the The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC):

The senator wants NAFTA and other trade deals "consistently monitored and evaluated."

She wants to make sure that our trade deals expand, not reduce, the number of good-paying, middle-class jobs and raise, not lower, American wages.

And Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM), also reported in The Sun News:

"Look, I voted for it [NAFTA]," Richardson said in an interview after his speech to the union leaders in McCormick. "I'm not apologizing for it. We thought the standards on environmental protection, on worker's protection would be strong. They were weak."

And in the polls:

Politico comments on a Quinnipiac poll which tested how the candidates would do in Ohio. Apparently, they were surprised by the no more NAFTA fervent that was the same in all tested demographics (maybe they forgot to read our Election Report?),

Along with Michigan, Ohio has been the state perhaps hardest hit by job losses due to foreign competition. Although Republicans are slightly more supportive of free trade than are Democrats or independents, even within GOP ranks there is clear resentment that Ohio's prosperity is being sacrificed to foreign competitors.

For instance, when Ohio voters are asked whether they think the U.S. economy would be better off if the nation continues its current trade laws or increases restrictions on imported goods, by a 60 percent to 30 percent margin they pick the latter. Even Republicans want new restrictions on imports, by a 55 percent to 35 percent margin…

…Only 21 percent believe the growth of the global economy has helped the Ohio economy, 30 percent think it has helped their families' bottom line, and 30 percent say it has helped the U.S. economy.

And that's it for this week's Trade on the Trail.

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Holly Shulman is the press officer at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.