Tag Archives: free trade

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COOK: Trump and Sanders Vow to Kill ObamaTrade, But for the Wrong Reasons

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While the mainstream media focused on “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s smirk last week, trade ministers signed the final agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as ObamaTrade.

During a congressional hearing, hedge fund manager-turned-pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli was asked by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) if he “did anything wrong” by increasing a life saving drug by 5,000 percent. Shkreli’s behavior sparked a national debate on capitalism and whether “greed is good” in America.

Ironically, while congressmen Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Chaffetz criticized Shkreli’s business decision to increase the price for one drug, they both voted to give President Obama ‘fast-track’ authority to approve ObamaTrade, which will likely increase drug costs for all Americans.

[RELATED: Obama Signs “Fast Track” Bill, TPP Inches Closer to Completion]

Supportive ObamaTrade groups are now admitting that thousands of Americans could lose their jobs from this agreement. ObamaTrade would also allow Big Pharma to increase drug prices and limit access for consumers— a gift for crony capitalists like Shkreli.

This month, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are speaking out against the controversial trade deal.

Trump recently told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he and Sanders have common ground on trade.

“The one thing we very much agree on is trade. We both agree that we are getting ripped off by China, by Japan, by Mexico, everyone we do business with,” said Trump.

“At a time when prescription drug prices are skyrocketing, the TPP would make a bad situation even worse by granting new monopoly rights to big pharmaceutical companies to deny access to lower cost generic drugs to millions of people,” Sanders said in a press conference on February 3.

Both presidential candidates oppose ObamaTrade, but for different reasons— the wrong reasons. They both advocate a protectionist trade policy.

“We need fair trade. Not free trade,” Donald Trump told Breitbart in September 2015. “We need fair trade. It’s got to be fair.”

It’s important to note that ObamaTrade is not “free trade.” America does not have “free trade;” it’s managed trade.

Economist Dr. Tom DiLorenzo told Truth In Media’s Joshua Cook that the reason Americans fought the British was because of this type of crony capitalism (mercantilism). This is not free market enterprise; this is just giving favors to the politically connected at the expense of tax payers and the middle class, the working people, the American people.

While Trump and Sanders should be praised for speaking out against ObamaTrade, they both miss the opportunity to show people how to “make America great again” by implementing economic principles of real free trade.

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Fact Check: Marco Rubio Lies About Mexico Trade Deficit

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Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) was asked about his deciding vote to give President Obama Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “Fast-Track Authority”, to negotiate the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP, or ObamaTrade).

It’s apparent that Rubio is a big fan of ObamaTrade.

As seen in an exclusive video below, Evan Mulch asked Rubio, “if the TPP was truly about free trade and lowering tariffs, then why wouldn’t it be a one page document? Why is the TPP hundreds of pages long?”

“Wouldn’t it be in our best effort to repeal the North American Free Trade agreement (NAFTA), because NAFTA basically sent the manufacturing jobs to Mexico from the U.S.?” Mulch continued.

Rubio responded by defending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) like NAFTA and said, “No, we have a trade surplus with virtually every country in the world that we have free trade with.”

Joshua Cook asked Curtis Ellis, who is an expert on TPP, what he thought about Rubio’s comment regard the U.S. having a trade surplus.

“It’s not true. It’s not right,” said Ellis. “The guy is either ignorant or he’s lying. This is a talking point put out by apologists for these free trade agreements.”

[See imports vs. exports 2015 : U.S. trade in goods with Mexico can be seen here. A very clear example is with South Korea.]

“He is repeating talking points given to him by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is knowingly trying to mislead us,” says Ellis.

For many, NAFTA has become a cautionary tale that warns people that these big treaties ultimately harm the U.S. economy.

According to New American Magazine:

“In 1993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, the United States had a $1.66 billion trade surplus with Mexico; by 1995, the first year after NAFTA had entered into force, that changed to a $15.8 billion deficit. By 2000, that annual deficit had soared to $24.5 billion, and by 2007 it hit $74.7 billion. For 2014, our trade deficit with Mexico dipped to only $53.8 billion. In 1993, the year before NAFTA, we imported around 225,000 cars and trucks from Mexico. By 2005, our imports of Mexican-made vehicles had tripled to 700,000 vehicles annually, and in 2012, Mexico’s export of vehicles to the United States surpassed 1.4 million. Chrysler, Ford, and GM transferred major production facilities (and jobs) from the United States to Mexico. Our trade deficits with Canada have followed a similar path since adoption of NAFTA.”

Many have attributed massive trade deficits, joblessness through outsourcing, and a decreased standard of American living to NAFTA and other corporate-led trade deals.

It is important to note that opposing these big “trade deals” is not protectionism. Ron Paul made it clear on why he opposed NAFTA, stating that what most politicians are promoting is “managed trade” not “free trade.”

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