I wasn’t happy with Cruz’s initial vote for the TPP either. I think he simply is a free trader (which is a position taken by many conservatives) though I am glad that he changed his mind when he saw that Sen. McConnell was cutting a deal with the Dems to reauthorize the corrupt export import bank.
I think most if not all of the GOP candidates except Trump are free traders. Trump has said he is a free trader too. But he want’s balanced trade in trade goods. None of this we buy your goods and you buy our companies stuff. And he is not afraid to bring up tariffs to bring the trade back into balance. He intends to tell countries, you either negotiate a balanced deal or get a tariff.
I’m actually for the export bank. I don’t like the tactics that McConnel used. But the Export bank helps American exporters compete which means jobs. And it’s not really a subsidy that costs us anything. It’s using the government borrowing power to finance the exports at low rates and selling insurance. And the bank has made a profit which gets returned to the treasury. $7 billion in the last 20 years. Of all the things we could cut, that made the least sense.