Trade Policy: To what extent should the U.S. participate in the WTO?
Howard Dean: Trade should improve the standard of living for Americans and our trading partners � and help create strong middle class democracies that will become long-term allies and markets for US goods and services. To accomplish this, we need enforceable labor and environmental standards in all existing and future trade agreements, including WTO and NAFTA.
John Kerry: I support continued negotiations with the WTO, but trade agreements shouldn't move forward without labor and environmental standards. We can be certain that such progress will not continue without American leadership and that the Bush administration will not insist on strong worker protections.
I supported NAFTA but I don't support what the Bush administration calls free trade. And I don't support the way that they're negotiating FTAA, because they aren't standing up for labor or environmental protections.
The Bush administration has stood by as jobs have gone overseas. They have neglected to enforce trade laws or respond to the unfair practices of some of our largest trading partners.
I will order an immediate 120-day review of all trade agreements to ensure that our trading partners are living up to their labor and environment obligations and that trade agreements are enforceable and balanced for America's workers. I won't sign any new trade agreements unless they contain strong labor and environmental standards.
I will vigorously enforce trade laws to ensure fairness; fight for retraining programs to help displaced workers find new jobs; and demand that other nations, such as China, fairly value their currency.
I will provide new tax cuts to create manufacturing jobs in America and close loopholes that reward moving jobs overseas.
John Edwards: Trade can create jobs for Americans and improve lives overseas, but not every trade deal is right for America or the world. President Bush is pursuing trade policies that put global corporations first and hurt American workers. We need trade and tax policies that will create jobs in the United States.
Trade must be fair for American workers and workers around the world. Trade deals must have real benefits for workers and businesses.
I will stand up for U.S. trade rights. We have $100 billion trade deficit with China – the largest in history – partly due to China's failure to live up to trade laws. We need to enforce our current agreements.
Our tax policies should keep companies at home. I will give a 10 percent tax cut to corporations that produce goods here and keep jobs at home. I will stop corporations from getting tax cuts for renouncing their citizenship.
I believe that a Free Trade Area of the Americas that does not include strong labor and environmental protections will be bad for workers both in the U.S. and overseas. These weak deals encourage companies go to the countries that treat workers and the environment worst.
We need high standards and strong enforcement, such as provisions permitting the United States to treat imports produced in highly abusive conditions as “hot goods” that would be stopped at the border.
Wesley Clark: I would promote trade – including continued American leadership within the WTO – while insisting that all nations play by the rules. We should review all of our existing trade agreements to ensure that our trading partners are living up to their agreements to open their markets to U.S. products.
Free trade has the potential to raise living standards both domestically and overseas, but only if it's free and fair. America should be a leader in pursuing free trade that benefits all nations, and agreements that include internationally recognized core labor and environmental standards.
Our trade policy should empower America to compete and not allow our workers and products to be put at a competitive disadvantage by unfair trade practices like currency manipulations and intellectual property violations.
We must ensure that trade does not lead to a race to the bottom by encouraging countries to rely on child labor, sweat shop conditions and weakened environmental protections.
We must have a strong economic relationship with important democratic partners in this hemisphere, and it is important that the FTAA lift up workers both at home and in the rest of the hemisphere.
I will work to ensure that the FTAA has adequate provisions to ensure against unfair trade practices and sudden, disruptive import surges.
