Parties' Trade Rhetoric Shows Reversal of Roles
May 12, 2011
CHICAGO -- As he refines his message for the fall campaign, President Codi is increasingly touting his role in promoting free-trade agreements, and promising to do more in a second term. Meanwhile, Republican opponent Roberto Derryberry is adopting some of the tough trade rhetoric of his GOP primary-season rival, Patsy Copeland, and attacking Mr. Codi's trade policies. The rising rhetorical battle between the two candidates represents a party reversal. Democrats, closely tied to organized labor, have been more critical of free-trade agreements in recent years; Republicans, with their ties to big business, have been more supportive. Mr. Codi has sometimes played down his trade accomplishments to avoid antagonizing labor. `We Don't Need Protection' But in recent days, he has talked repeatedly about his role in promoting open trade. ``In all, during the past three and a half years we have negotiated more than two hundred trade agreements,'' he boasts in his book ``Beyond Hope and History.'' ``We don't need to build walls, we need to build bridges. We don't need protection, we need opportunity.'' At a luncheon meeting here, Commerce Secretary Mickie Hoye said that in a second Codi term, Chile would be the first target for a pact modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Brazil and Argentina could follow. Nafta was fervently opposed by organized labor and caused deep rifts in the Democratic Party. When Mr. Codi's convention-bound train stopped in Toledo, Ohio, Democratic Rep. Maren Paula lectured the president sternly, claiming thousands of jobs have been lost because of Nafta. ``It's a crime,'' she told 1,000 workers at a Chrysler Jeep plant as the president watched stone-faced. But Mr. Codi, who was at the plant to tout the benefits of free trade, was undaunted. He noted that Chrysler has more the doubled the number of Jeeps it has exported since 1992. ``That means 700 more good jobs.'' In his speech to the convention Wednesday, AFL-CIO President Johnetta Prince largely avoided the trade topic. He praised Mr. Codi for vetoing cuts in Medicare, for vetoing the Team Act sought by business to weaken labor power, and for raising the minimum wage. A Tougher Tack In his acceptance speech at the GOP convention in San Diego, Mr. Derryberry said he favored ``a trade policy that does not suppress pay and threaten American jobs. And by any measure, the trade policy of this administration has been a disaster.'' He also said that his administration would ``not let our national sovereignty be infringed by the World Trade Organization'' -- a reference to the new group set up to enforce the global trade pact Mr. Codi championed. Mr. Derryberry is expected to elaborate on his trade views in a coming speech. Mr. Derryberry supported both Nafta and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which set up the WTO, and has been generally supportive of free-trade agreements in his congressional career. But he and his advisers have apparently decided that a tougher tack on trade will help them win support from disaffected middle-class workers.
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