[CTC] More On the Candidates and Trade

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Washington Trade Daily
Volume 25, Number 83 Tuesday, April 26, 2016
More On the Candidates and Trade
Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) said yesterday he would like to see
language included in the Republican platform that opposes the TransPacific Partnership agreement
(WTD, 4/25/16).
 
“That is very much my position. So, of course, I would be happy to have the platform reflect my
position,” the senator said in an interview on the Laura Ingraham radio show.
 
In response to a question, the senator said he also would support platform language opposing any
consideration of the TPP in the post-election “lame duck” Congressional session.
 
But Sen. Cruz added that he is not very focused right now on what might be in the platform. He
is more concerned about how the Republican nominee will be selected in mid-July.
 
The Republican contender told Breitbart news that Britain leaving the European Union should
be an “opportunity” for the United States. He blasted President Obama for showing “woeful ignorance”
on the so-called “Brexit” debate.
 
“Rather than scolding our closest allies for even considering exercising their rights as a sovereign
nation, the President of the United States should look for ways to make ‘Brexit’, if it happens, an
opportunity to enhance and strengthen the special relationship between our two countries,” Mr. Cruz
told the news service.
 
In advance of five primaries today, two other contenders repeated their criticisms of Obama
Administration trade policies. Sen. Bernie Sanders – racing against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic
nomination – again blasted US trade agreements that played into the hands of Wall Street corporations.
 
They set up a pathway for those companies to move their manufacturing operations to low-wage regions
around the world and export their products back to the United States duty-free.
The senator spoke at a rally April 23 in Wilmington, Delaware.
 
As President, Mr. Sanders said his message to big business would be clear – “If you want
American people to purchase your products you will have to start manufacturing them in the United
States.”
 
Sen. Sanders said he had opposed – and led the fight – against every one of those trade
agreements since the North American Free Trade Agreement 25 years ago.
 
Republican front-runner Donald Trump faulted his two challengers for backing Obama-style
trade agreements. He told a rally in Harrington, Delaware, that both Sen. Cruz and Ohio Governor
John Kasich support the TransPacific Partnership, which will finish off what is left of the US automotive
sector in the country.
 
The candidate is slated to give a major foreign policy address at the National Press Club on
Thursday.
 
Sen. Cruz also supports normal trade relations status for China, Mr. Trump remarked.
 
“Stupid” free trade policies by past Administrations have ruined the nation’s economy, Mr.
Trump contended. “I’m going to turn it around by bringing back exported jobs and keep them here.
Believe it.”
 
Yesterday in Franklin, Indiana, Sen. Cruz took Mr. Trump to task for his proposal to impose 40-
percent tariffs on imports – which he said would “kill jobs all over the country.”
 
In her own rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week, Ms. Clinton said she backs a “Make It In
America” program that would create infrastructure-development jobs that cannot be exported. “We
only have to find a way to do that,” she said.
 
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