[CTC] Sanders and Biden talk trade records

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Two articles below...

Inside U.S. Trade
 
Sanders takes on Biden's trade record

4/30/2019
 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday highlighted distinctions between his record on trade and that of former Vice President Joe Biden, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In an interview on CNN <https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/29/politics/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-contrasts-cnntv/index.html>, Sanders was asked about Biden's early endorsements and support after the former Delaware senator declared his candidacy last week. Sanders immediately brought up policy differences, beginning with trade.

“I helped lead the fight against NAFTA; he voted for NAFTA,” Sanders began.

The senator then said he also helped lead a “fight” against permanent normal trade relations with China, while Biden, as a senator, “voted for it.”

And, Sanders added, “I strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership; he supported it.”

TPP was a high priority for the Obama administration.

Sanders on Monday also released a statement calling on President Trump and all presidential candidates to “publicly support a new trade policy agenda that protects domestic jobs and guarantees living wages for American workers.”

As part of that, Sanders wants all candidates to support “A commitment to renegotiate all of our unfair trade deals to prevent the outsourcing of American jobs and raise wages.” He wants a pledge to “avoid appointing [a] trade representative from Wall Street.”

Sanders also said he was “committed to label China a currency manipulator and prevent it from dumping artificially cheap products into the U.S. when he is in the White House.”

President Trump, as a candidate, pledged to label China a currency manipulator but to date his Treasury Department has not done so. The latest report from Treasury on the currency practices of other countries is overdue.

On his campaign website, Sanders lays out a slew of trade priorities <https://berniesanders.com/issues/fight-for-fair-trade-and-workers/>:

·         Eliminate the incentives baked into our current trade and tax agreements that make it easier for multinational corporations to ship jobs overseas. Corporations should not be able to get a tax deduction for the expenses involved in moving their factories abroad and throwing American workers out on the street.

·         Instead of providing federal tax breaks, contracts, grants, and loans to corporations that outsource jobs, we need to support the small businesses that are creating good jobs in America.  

·         We must also expand “Buy American,” “Buy Local,” and other government policies that will increase jobs in the U.S.  

·         We need to make sure that strong and binding labor, environmental, and human rights standards are written into the core text of all trade agreements.

·         We must also add to the core text of every U.S. trade agreement, enforceable rules against currency cheating, which allows countries to unfairly dump their products in this country and makes our exports more expensive abroad.  

·         Our trade policies must support communities of color that have been impacted the worst by our unfair trade deals.

·         Undo the harm that trade agreements have done to family farmers.

·         We must eliminate rules in our trade deals that increase the cost of medicines.

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Biden defends his record, says he's a 'fair trader’

5/1/2019 

Former Vice President Joe Biden called himself a “fair trader” in Iowa on Wednesday in response to questions about his record on trade raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a top competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders on Monday knocked Biden <https://insidetrade.com/node/166359> for his votes, as a Delaware senator, in favor of NAFTA and of permanent normal trade relations with China, as well as his support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Biden, campaigning in the state that will hold the first caucus in the Democratic primary race, didn't address Sanders' claims directly but said he was proud of his record, according to a report <https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/04/30/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-trade-nafta-china-fair-trade-free-trade-union-trump-election-2020-caucus-ia/3625096002/> in the Des Moines Register.

“I'm going to have plenty of time to respond to that,” Biden said, according to the paper. “I'm not going to get into debates with my colleagues here. We'll have plenty of time on the stage.”

When asked if he considered himself a free trader, Biden used the term “fair trader.”

“That’s why I’ve been arguing for a long time that we should treat other countries the way in which they treat us which is, particularly as it relates to China: If they want to trade here they’re going to be under the same rules,” he said, according to the Register.
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