DeWine Supported NAFTA - And He’s Campaigning On It Too

Senator Mike DeWine is at it again, trying to distort his record on the North American Free Trade Agreement - the unfair trade agreement that eliminated 52,000 Ohio jobs.  He enthusiastically supported the trade agreement, and now, he is campaigning on it.     

Just last Friday in Cincinnati, Mike DeWine appeared with former U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman to extol NAFTA's virtues - how it had boosted U.S. exports.  DeWine knows it really boosted multinational profits, boosted the trade imbalance, flooded our market with cheap imports, and led steel mills and auto plants in Ohio to close.  At the same event, DeWine noted that he didn't vote for NAFTA because he wasn't in Congress at the time.  He supported it (and continues to).  Talk about using smoke and mirrors in an attempt to hide his record.

Sherrod Brown's stand against job-killing trade agreements couldn't be clearer:  he stood up to President Bill Clinton and opposed and voted against NAFTA.  He opposed and voted against granting Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China.  He led a bi-partisan coalition in opposition to CAFTA - and guess what, he voted against it too!

Workers who lost their jobs due to NAFTA, CAFTA, China PNTR, and other wrong-headed trade pacts Senator DeWine supported, like those at the Denman plant, have yet to forgive DeWine for prioritizing multinational profits instead of their families.  

Job loss isn't something to celebrate, but Mike DeWine seems to think it is.

Here are some of the greatest hits from DeWine's NAFTA love-fest:

"DeWine generally supports, and Glenn opposes, the plan being negotiated among the United States, Mexico and Canada to create a giant free-trade zone throughout North America. ''In broad terms, I favor it because I believe it will mean more job creation in the United States,'' DeWine said. ''Since 1987, we've seen U.S. exports to Mexico go up almost three times. It is a great market for us. We are going to create a lot of jobs...This whole NAFTA zone will ultimately create a lot of jobs in Ohio.'' [Columbus Dispatch, 8/30/92]

"But Brown's Republican opponent, two-term Sen. Mike DeWine, defends NAFTA as a "big success from Ohio's point-of-view"  that has doubled the value of Ohio exports to Mexico and Canada." [AP, 7/14/06]

"DeWine recently told The Vindicator that Ohio doubled its exports because of NAFTA, and CAFTA, passed this year, is already a success." [The Youngstown Vindicator, 9/12/06]

Trade agreements have been passed by bipartisan majorities, and.they support countless Ohio jobs."  [DeWine Press Release 9/8/06]

Of course, DeWine failed to note that the trade deficit has increased to its highest monthly level ever and that Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since he began his latest term in office and voted for every unfair trade agreement the President put in front of him.  But presented with those facts, DeWine would probably just say he didn't vote for NAFTA.  He just supported it.

09/18/2006 / Permalink / Trade, (all tags)