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2016 Postmortem

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TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
Tue May 31, 2016, 01:53 AM May 2016

Bernie/Trump/Hillary On Trade Policy - When You Say You Are Against Free Trade Agreements [View all]

When I hear folks railing against free trade agreements and that we should repeal them, what specifically are we proposing to have happen?

1. An embargo against trade?
2. Higher tariffs on imported goods?
3. A subsidy on some or all of American goods?

It is one thing to say you want to cancel trade agreements, but what do folks think will happen if those agreements are cancelled? Also, if we are thinking higher tariffs are the way to go, why would there be a different result then what happened following the imposition of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff, which was imposed by Republicans and, in fact, it was due to Herbert Hoover's support of such protectionist measures that he won the Presidency.

Kind of curious, since we have vox on the left and CNBC on the right critiquing the respective trade views of Bernie and Trump.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11139718/bernie-sanders-trade-global-poverty

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/10/trump-trade-plans-could-cause-global-recession-experts.html

Are these critiques fair or do you think the analysis misrepresents the views of the respective candidates?

31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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first of all these so called trade agreements have very little to do with trade hollysmom May 2016 #1
ditto Hollys mom larkrake May 2016 #2
So, if Your Concern Is Human Rights Suffering Under Trade, What About Cuba? TomCADem May 2016 #3
Your assumptions are false. JDPriestly Jun 2016 #17
+10000 Armstead Jun 2016 #21
"What do folks think would happen if those agreements were cancelled?" Thank you Recursion May 2016 #4
I think that thousands and thousands of jobs have been moved to Mexico under the JDPriestly Jun 2016 #16
The Free Trade Agreements are complex, full of nuance, and favor trans-national corporations. PufPuf23 May 2016 #5
The Colombia Free Trade legislation supports continued use of coal and PufPuf23 May 2016 #7
What exactly is "Free trade" versus "Fair trade?" EndElectoral May 2016 #8
Free trade and fair trade defined PufPuf23 May 2016 #10
Isn't Bernie Proposing To Impose Tariffs on Goods from Developing Countries? TomCADem Jun 2016 #11
Smoot Hartley is a red herring and omits nearly 50 years of a successful history under GATT PufPuf23 Jun 2016 #12
Good post. Good analysis. JDPriestly Jun 2016 #14
Thank you. Some days wonder if it is worth the effort. alas. eom PufPuf23 Jun 2016 #18
Why does Bernie's Tariff Work as Opposed to Smoot Hawley? TomCADem Jun 2016 #20
I suspect anything you don't agree with, you just dismiss as "jargon" Armstead Jun 2016 #22
Sorry, I don't have a Ph.D, just trying to understand if yo TomCADem Jun 2016 #23
I didn't write it. Armstead Jun 2016 #24
Sanders is proposing something different than Smoot Hawley. PufPuf23 Jun 2016 #29
Personally, I Gravitate Toward Robert Reich's Views On Trade TomCADem Jun 2016 #30
I am in general agreement with Robert Reich. He is a very smart man. PufPuf23 Jun 2016 #31
Tariffs are not the problem. It's all the other provisions hidden in these trade agreements JDPriestly Jun 2016 #15
Where did you get that information? Trump is proposing such tariffs, not Bernie who has proposed to pampango Jun 2016 #28
Note that Plan Colombia - part of neo-con plan for global dominance PufPuf23 May 2016 #9
Bernie is for fair trade. As are most progressives. Eom jillan May 2016 #6
What is 'fair'? Does that mean only trading with countries with wages as high as ours? CrowCityDem Jun 2016 #26
Even that would be problematic. Our trade deficit per capita is higher with Germany than with China. pampango Jun 2016 #27
Trade is OK. But trade disputes should be settled in courts under national control JDPriestly Jun 2016 #13
FDR knew that, to be fair, trading rules had to be enforced neutrally or they would not work. pampango Jun 2016 #19
More right wing Hillspeak AgingAmerican Jun 2016 #25
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