Musgrove skews trade issues

The Clarion Ledger Jackson Ms ^ | October 12, 2003 | By Sid Salter

[WKB]

It's difficult to conceive that foreign trade is the biggest issue in the 2003 governor's race in Mississippi — since Mississippi governors can't do diddly-squat to change this nation's trade policies.

But Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has chosen to spend a great deal of his time and campaign war chest in talking to the voters of this state about the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT).

Musgrove's ads breathlessly tell us that his Republican opponent Haley Barbour supported NAFTA and GATT — and hence that he is personally responsible for the Mississippi job losses that NAFTA has in part produced.

At the same time, Musgrove heaps praise upon himself — flatly ignoring the strong role of Republican U.S. Sen. Trent Lott and more importantly the $295 million in incentives paid by state taxpayers — for luring the Nissan auto plant to Mississippi.

Sorry, you can't have it both ways, Governor. For without congressional approval of new initiatives in the 1947 GATT treaty and the entry of the U.S. into the World Trade Organization in the mid-1990s, there would simply be no Nissan plant in Mississippi.

No GATT, no Nissan. Without broader trade policies and less protectionist trade policies, all that former pasture land in Madison County would still have cows grazing on it.

No GATT, no Nissan

GATT hasn't been an obstacle to new and better jobs in the rural South, it's been a boon. From Atlanta to Dallas along the Interstate 20 corridor, the world's auto industry has created a "new Detroit." Remember free trade?

Has NAFTA cost Mississippi jobs in the short term? Certainly. Mississippi has lost thousands of low wage, low skill jobs — many in the garment industry.

But as pointed out in an earlier column, both Democrats and Republicans alike in the White House and on Capitol Hill supported NAFTA. The treaty had the support of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and the majority of Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress.

NAFTA opposition?

Gov. Musgrove says he's "always" opposed NAFTA. But when pressed at a recent Clarion-Ledger Editorial Board meeting to produce the first scintilla of evidence that he ever opposed NAFTA as a state senator when the treaty was approved by Congress, he said he couldn't do it.

The difference between Musgrove and Barbour on NAFTA and GATT is that Barbour in the mid-1990s was a national political figure whose opinion on trade was valued by Congress, the White House and international leaders.

At the same time, Musgrove was an obscure Mississippi legislator whose opinion on trade was both publicly unexpressed and sought by no one.

Free trade brought Nissan here

[WKB]

Misippy ping

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[dixiechick2000]

"The difference between Musgrove and Barbour on NAFTA and GATT is that Barbour in the mid-1990s was a national political figure whose opinion on trade was valued by Congress, the White House and international leaders.

At the same time, Musgrove was an obscure Mississippi legislator whose opinion on trade was both publicly unexpressed and sought by no one."

This is more like it.

I'm gonna remember Sid Salter.

[WKB]

I'm gonna remember Sid Salter.


Not exactly a Julie Goodman is he? :>)

[dixiechick2000]

"Not exactly a Julie Goodman is he? :>)"

I'm sure he's grateful. ;o)

[WoofDog123]

Is the Clarion-Liar editorial staff on vacation? Why is this anti-musgrove piece running? Is this a letter to the editor?

Has the C-L ed. page ever opposed a tax increase or supported a repub for gov (even the 1 post-reconstruction guy who won twice in a row, mr fordice?)?