Posted on 07/27/2005 9:14:44 PM PDT by RWR8189
WASHINGTON - The House narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday, a personal triumph for President Bush, who campaigned aggressively for the accord he said would foster prosperity and democracy in the hemisphere.
The 217-215 vote just after midnight adds six Latin American countries to the growing lists of nations with free trade agreements with the United States and averts what could have been a major political embarrassment for the Bush administration.
It was an uphill effort to win a majority, with Bush traveling to Capitol Hill earlier in the day to appeal to wavering Republicans to support a deal he said was critical to U.S. national security.
Lobbying continued right up to the vote, with Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez tracking undecided lawmakers.
The United States signed the accord, known as CAFTA, a year ago with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and the Senate approved it last month. It now goes to the president for his signature.
To capture a majority, supporters had to overcome what some have called free trade fatigue, a growing sentiment that free trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada have contributed to a loss of well-paying American jobs and the soaring trade deficit.
Democrats, who were overwhelmingly against CAFTA, also argued that its labor rights provisions were weak and would result in exploitation of workers in Central America.
But supporters pointed out that CAFTA would over time eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers that impede U.S. sales to the region, correcting the current situation in which 80 percent of Central American goods enter the United States duty-free but Americans must pay heavy tariffs.
The agreement would also strengthen intellectual property protections and make it easier for Americans to invest in the region.
"This is a test of American leadership in a changing world," said Rep. Kevin Brady (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, a leading proponent of the agreement. "We cannot claim to be fighting for American jobs and yet turn our backs on 44 million new customers in Central America.
I suggest this calm, welcoming harbor, where the natives fantasize dreamily about "the Rex 84 internment camps" that Dubya and KKKarl Rove has secretly been establishing, "ready to take on 20 million anti-CAFTA dissidents" at a moment's notice.
They'd be infinitely happier there, I think; energetically banging rocks together, grooming one another's hides, and sharing beery, wistful campfire prophecies of a Kucinich administration yet to come.
I thought I was.
I must not be. :(
In this case, it is you who are totally incorrect.
There is a difference between "machine tool builders had moved to Korea, Japan, Poland and now of course China" and "Now, there is NO machine tool industry in this country. Everything is overseas".
- 2004 (est.) Production - | - 2003 (rev.) - | - Change - | ||||||
$-Millions | $-Millions | in local | in U.S. | |||||
Country | Total | % Cut | % Form | Total | currency | dollars | ||
1. | Japan | 10,521.0 | 88% | 11.9% | 7,885.9 | 24% | 33% | |
2. | Germany | 9,216.2 | 73% | 27.5% | 7,737.7 | 8% | 19% | |
3. | Italy | 4,639.2 | 55% | 45.0% | 4,154.1 | 2% | 12% | |
4. | China, Peoples Rep. | 4,000.0 | 77% | 23.3% | 2,980.0 | $ | 34% | |
5. | Taiwan | 2,892.2 | 75% | 25.3% | 2,110.8 | 33% | 37% | |
6. | United States | 2,814.2 | 80% | 20.4% | 2,274.0 | 24% | 24% | |
7. | Switzerland | 2,360.0 | 85% | 15.0% | 1,879.4 | 14% | 26% | |
8. | Korea, Rep. of | 2,298.9 | 66% | 33.5% | 2,087.7 | $ | 10% | |
9. | Spain | 1,023.5 | 65% | 35.4% | 926.1 | 0% | 11% | |
10. | United Kingdom | 877.2 | 81% | 18.8% | 664.2 | 18% | 32% | |
11. | France | 766.4 | 70% | 30.0% | 733.0 | -5% | 5% | |
12. | Canada | u742.2 | 60% | 40.0% | 689.6 | 0% | 8% | |
13. | Brazil | 463.8 | 81% | 19.0% | 371.4 | $ | 25% | |
14. | Turkey | 322.9 | 31% | 69.4% | 248.2 | 18% | 30% | |
15. | Czech Republic | 278.1 | 94% | 6.2% | 220.4 | 15% | 26% | |
16. | Austria | 254.6 | 60% | 40.0% | 220.2 | 5% | 16% | |
17. | Sweden | 254.6 | 40% | 60.0% | 219.1 | 6% | 16% | |
18. | Netherlands | 254.6 | 20% | 80.0% | 228.1 | 1% | 12% | |
19. | India | 220.6 | 87% | 13.0% | 145.3 | 47% | 52% | |
20. | Finland | 198.7 | 12% | 88.0% | 169.4 | 7% | 17% | |
21. | Belgium | 193.8 | 10% | 90.0% | 186.4 | -5% | 4% | |
22. | Russia | 161.4 | 77% | 23.2% | 156.4 | 3% | 3% | |
23. | Australia | 136.0 | 71% | 29.4% | 128.2 | $ | 6% | |
24. | Thailand | u121.9 | 80% | 20.0% | 118.1 | 0% | 3% | |
25. | Denmark | 84.5 | 40% | 60.0% | 72.3 | 6% | 17% | |
26. | Croatia | 67.0 | 100% | 0.0% | 63.0 | $ | 6% | |
27. | Romania | 59.3 | 56% | 43.5% | 53.1 | $ | 12% | |
28. | Portugal | 42.2 | 10% | 90.0% | 37.3 | 3% | 13% | |
29. | Argentina | 15.2 | 69% | 30.9% | 14.5 | $ | 5% | |
30. | Hungary | u9.9 | 65% | 35.5% | c9.0 | 0% | 11% | |
31. | South Africa | u5.3 | 29% | 70.6% | 4.5 | 0% | 17% | |
Total | $45,295.6 | $36,787.4 | 23% | |||||
Source: Gardner Publications, Inc. | ||||||||
u = unrevised from previous year but converted at current rates | ||||||||
c = circa; rough estimate from fragmentary reports | ||||||||
$ = figures are reported in U.S. dollars |
Reagan (mostly a free-trader) imposes tariffs on foreign motorcycles. He's a hero.
Bush (mostly a free-trader) imposes tariffs on foreign steel. He's a goat.
I see, so US is behind Taiwan and before Switzerland. What is your point?
I remember when the worst thing one said to a Libertarian was that they believed in open borders. Now it is mainstream Republican/socialist thought.
My point is that $2.8 billion in machine tool production is more than the $0 in production that AnimalLover claimed.
A relatively weak machine tools industry cannot be beneficial to the United States in the long run. We cannot be assured that our external threat will continue to be the so-called Fourth Generation of borderless war with Islamic extremist terrorists. China is acting more and more like a first class power. They have a rapidly expanding industrial sector, the nation can essentially feed itself, and are building their military forces. Zimbabwe is basically becoming a Chinese protectorate, and the Chinese are making deals with Venezuela, Brazil, and even Canada for oil and other goods. (Keep in mind that Marxists are in charge of the first two countries.)
From a national defense standpoint, CAFTA may not be a bad deal because it would pull Central America closer to the American orbit. With China having major shipping facilities at the Panama Canal and Daniel Ortega and his Communist Sandinistas the number two political party in Nicaragua, there is serious peril to U.S. interests in this region.
Whatever the merits of the agreement, the fact remains that an America with a weakened ability to produce airplanes, tanks, missiles, warships, and even military firearms would be at a disadvantage in a major war. An important lesson of our Civil War and the two World Wars is that military power and industrial prowess are closely related. Remember that the South won most of the battles, particularly in the first two years, but lost the war. We may still be able to produce warplanes and submarines that can run circles around anything China may have, but without a strong industrial base with the ability to produce large quantities quickly, our high tech products will be as futile as the Nazi "wonder weapons" were in 1944 and 1945.
I agree....freer markets DEF makes for freer people. Glad the House saw this one through...I'm sure it took some craft manuvering on the part of Whip Blunt to get the votes in for this, but it is a solid move. Well done!
Quote: Now you see Jan 1994 112,473,000 jobs. Jun 2005 133,537,000 jobs. Looks like 21,064,000 jobs. But feel free to check my math
We have a larger population in the last 12 years and more women have entered the workforce because the husbangs lost his manufacturing job and had to take a lower wage paying service job.
In regards to machine tool EXPORTS the US is BEHIND tiny Switzerland
http://www.gardnerweb.com/consump/export.html
Quote:
In regards to machine tool EXPORTS the US is BEHIND tiny Switzerland
...and I want to add we are behind switzerlands exports by almost half.
If Ortega came back to power in Nicaragua, or the leftist PRD won the Mexican elections, toppling hostile regimes in those countries should be a top U.S. priority. If NAFTA and CAFTA can forestall takeover of these countries by anti-American forces without bloodshed, this may be an acceptable tradeoff for the loss of automobile or textile jobs to the nations to our south. Better to lose it to them than to an Asian nation.
Here is another interesting chart that shows Machine Tool Trade imbalance. We are down to #30 which is bad. Look at the countries with a pos # and you wills ee how the machine tool trade will be going in this country.
US 2003 -1.633.9
US 2004 -2.117.9
http://www.gardnerweb.com/consump/trade.html
Agreed but where do you see free markets in any of these agreements?
Only when our trading partners have to comply with every government mandated regulation from EPA, ADA, to OSHA, and their associated costs can we have free trade. Anything short of that is NOT free trade nor a free market.
If you pile on top of government regulation, our wonderful union thugs it is a wonder we can compete in anything short of weapons.
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