We Need Trade
Speech in Cleveland, March 1, 2004.
Now the talk is about outsourcing. You know why we can't stop outsourcing? Because we can't put a tax on goods going out of this country or tariffs on things coming into this country. So we're about to lose our high tech industry for that same reason. This is the same reason why any new industries we develop here we can't keep here. Because the trade agreements do not permit us to be able to find a way to be able to keep those industries solid. It's all about cheap labor, any way they can flood the market with cheap labor, our industries are sunk.
Now this is a major issue in this presidential debate, and I'll tell you why. Because Senator Kerry has voted for every trade agreement, every one of them. And he is not going to change his direction on it, he's made that abundantly clear. He says "We'll fix NAFTA, we'll fix the WTO." Well, he's had time to do that, that's just not going to happen. I mean, he has another approach. And Senator Edwards, frankly, has been all over the lot on this. I mean, he's doing TV commercials right now saying that if NAFTA had been up when he was in the Senate he would have voted against it. Well, that's good, except that last week he told the New York Times that he essentially wouldn't end NAFTA, that he believes that NAFTA should exist. That's a direct quote from Senator Edwards, he believes NAFTA should exist. Well, if you believe NAFTA should exist, on one hand, and you say you would not have voted for NAFTA on the other hand... am I missing something here?
So what I'm saying is that the people of Ohio and the people who labor in industries and do high tech work all over this country ought to know they only have one candidate in this race who not only understands the issues, but who is politically independent enough to be able to stand up for the economic interests of American business, of the American men and women, and of the American future. Because this is not about separating us from the world, this is about setting standards for ethical commerce.
We need trade. Trade is the essence of human interaction. We need countries to be able to talk to one another. We need the chance for trade to serve as the basis for peace in the world. But there's another thing we need. We need trade that's based on principles of equity. We need trade that's based on principles of social and economic justice. We need trade that's based on human rights. We need trade that says there shall be no child labor, nor prison labor, nor slave labor. We need trade that protects the environment. We need trade that protects our society. We need trade with a vision of social and economic justice. Oh yes, we need trade.
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