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Obama Disappointing his Base Regarding “Free Trade”

Published 05/27/09 Dustin Ensinger - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

On the campaign trail, Obama vowed to unilaterally renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, if need be. During the Ohio primary, he continually reiterated that one of his first acts as president would be to completely overhaul the failed “free trade’ agreement.

“I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada to try to amend NAFTA because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now,” he said during a Democratic debate. “And it should reflect the basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street, it should also be good for Main Street.”

Last month, however, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the administration was no longer planning to reopen the agreement and instead would attempt to insert labor and environmental provisions into the agreement without renegotiating the entire trade pact.

“The president has said we will look at all of our options, but I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,” Kirk told The New York Times.

Since 1993, manufacturing employment in the U.S. has decreased from 16.8 million to 13.9 million in 2007, as the trade agreement put American workers in direct competition with Mexican workers. In the U.S. the average factory worker earns roughly $18 per hour. His Mexican counterpart, on the other hand, makes just $3 per hour on average. This has encouraged a “race to the bottom” in which American companies are frequently relocating production facilities across the border. Iconic American companies such as Coca Cola, Ford, RCA, General Motors, General Electric and Nokia have all opened up assembly plants in Mexico. In fact, GE employs 30,000 Mexicans in 35 factories in the country.

In addition, the Obama administration has also signaled its willingness to move forward with two “free trade’ agreements negotiated under the Bush administration. Those trade pacts, with Columbia and Panama, are based on the failed NAFTA model and would only further lead to the deterioration of American manufacturing jobs.

“Why would we be moving forward on a trade agreement negotiated by President Bush during a time when our economy is struggling? This makes no sense whatsoever. It does not represent a new model on trade. It represents a recycled model that doesn’t work," Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) told POLITICO’s Ben Smith last week.

Obama has disappointed his base and disregarded his stated campaign positions in regard to trade.

“American workers are relying on the Obama administration to make sure our country doesn’t enter into another NAFTA-style trade deal,” James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters wrote in a POLITICO column last month. “That includes the Bush administration’s leftover Panama and Colombia pacts, which are now being pushed by the same special interests that promoted NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO.”

Source Bloomberg News:

If Ronald Reagan was the Great Communicator, Barack Obama is the Great Deceiver. Time and again, from the beginning of his presidential campaign until today, Obama has taken a strong stand on an issue only to reverse himself.

Obama has more power than any modern president to enact his agenda. His party has control of the House of Representatives and an almost-filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. And yet he chooses to disregard his promises.

…

During the campaign, Obama pandered to union members by attacking free trade with gusto. “I will make sure we renegotiate” NAFTA, Obama promised shortly before the Ohio primary. “I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt- out as leverage.” Obama the campaigner also used “devastating” and “a big mistake” to describe NAFTA.

Then last month, U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk announced that Obama had discussed NAFTA with the Mexican president and “they don’t believe we have to reopen the agreement now.”

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