[CTC] Trade issues aired out in Democratic debates, with Biden calling for labor improvements to NAFTA 2.0

Fri Aug 2 08:12:07 PDT 2019

Transcripts of exact candidate statements during the Detroit debates are attached courtesy of Sarah Grace Spurgin…

Sen. Warren’s “New Approach to Trade” is online at: https://medium.com/@teamwarren/trade-on-our-terms-ad861879feca

Inside U.S. Trade

Trade issues aired out in Democratic debates, with Biden calling for labor improvements to USMCA
By Maria Curi
08/01/2019

Democratic presidential candidates condemned the Trump administration’s trade policy during a second round of debates this week, with frontrunner Joe Biden saying he would not support a new North American Free Trade Agreement unless it was renegotiated with labor groups at the table.

CNN hosted the debates on consecutive nights in Detroit. Speaking in a state that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has lost 168,403 manufacturing jobs since NAFTA was enacted, many of the candidates called for trade deals with higher labor standards.

They also picked at Biden's record as vice president and a senator from Delaware.

Citing Biden's votes on trade deals, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday asked the frontrunner in the race whether he would support the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which De Blasio called “just as dangerous as the old NAFTA” and a deal that is “going to take away American jobs … like [NAFTA] did to Michigan.”

“I believe you're the only person on the stage who voted for the original NAFTA,” he said. “Are you ready to say here and now that you will oppose a new NAFTA?”

“Yes,” Biden said, adding that he would “insist that labor be engaged” in any renegotiation.

Others denounced USMCA as well, with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), on different nights, saying the deal was a giveaway to pharmaceutical companies.

Candidates also criticized President Trump’s approach to China and his use of tariffs.

To “hold China accountable,” Biden said he would renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to which the U.S. is no longer a party. Biden was a staunch advocate for the deal during the Obama administration.

“Either China is going to write the rules of the road for the 21st century on trade or we are. We have to join with the 40 percent of the world that we had with us, and this time make sure that there's no one sitting at that table doing the deal unless environmentalists are there and labor is there and to make sure we equip our workers first to compete by investing in them now in the things that make them more competitive,” Biden said.

Former Rep. John Delaney (MD) argued that the Obama administration did secure strong environmental and labor standards in TPP and said “we would be in an entirely different position with China if we had entered” the agreement.

Candidates lamented the impact Trump’s tariffs have had on American consumers, farmers and manufacturers. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke called Trump’s tariffs “a huge mistake” while former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper contended that “Trade wars are for losers.”

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said Trump’s “trade policy by tweet … has resulted in a tax on American families.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s decision to cut interest rates, announced on Wednesday, was made in part because “of the so-called trade policy that this president has that has been nothing more than the Trump trade tax that has resulted in American families spending as much as $1.4 billion more a month on everything from shampoo to washing machines,” Harris said. Powell on Wednesday cited trade uncertainties as one reason for the move.

Warren, meanwhile, argued that “Anyone who thinks that these trade deals are mostly about tariffs just doesn't understand what's going on.”

Trade deals, she said, “have become a way for giant multinationals to change the regulatory environment so they can suck more profits out for themselves and to leave the American people behind.” Warren this week released a trade plan that includes stricter labor and environmental requirements for entering into a trade agreement with the U.S.

“Elizabeth is absolutely right,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) said. “If anybody here thinks that corporate America gives one damn about the average American worker you are mistaken. If they can save five cents by going to China, Mexico or Vietnam or anyplace else, that is exactly what they would do.”

“Detroit was nearly destroyed because of awful trade policy, which allowed corporations to throw workers in this community out on the streets as they moved to low-wage countries,” he added.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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