Posted on 05/02/2004 3:23:42 PM PDT by KQQL
Trade agreement may have been good for U.S. but hasn't helped N.C., he says
U.S. Rep. Richard Burr filed yesterday to run for a new office, the U.S. Senate, saying that he has changed his mind about NAFTA, a trade agreement he once supported and has criticized Democrat Erskine Bowles for supporting.
"I actually wasn't in Congress when we passed NAFTA, but I said in 1994 had I been there I would have voted for it," said Burr, R-5th, who filed to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. John Edwards. Like Bowles, who lobbied for the North American Free Trade Agreement as a member of the Clinton administration, "I'm big enough to say that the picture I had of NAFTA in 1994 ... didn't turn out the way I pictured it," Burr said, referring to his position as a "reversal."
"NAFTA may have been good overall for the United States.... But if you gauge it based upon employment in North Carolina, it has not been a net advantage," he said.
Still, Burr has hammered Bowles for lobbying for NAFTA and for most-favored-nation trading status for China.
"Now, with NAFTA at the forefront of costing many North Carolinians their jobs, Mr. Bowles has changed his position to one of opposing this agreement," Burr said in one recent fund-raising letter.
"But even more troubling is his handling of communist China.... I voted eight separate times to oppose most-favored-nation status (for China) and I remain opposed to it today, and will continue to do so until it is fair and equitable for America and our workers. Unfortunately, I don't think we can say the same about Mr. Bowles," Burr wrote.
In response to Burr's remarks, Bowles' campaign said that Burr is being hypocritical.
"How can Richard Burr with a straight face attack Erskine on trade, when Burr supported NAFTA and voted for trade deal after trade deal after trade deal?" asked Carlos Monje, a spokesman for the Bowles campaign.
Burr continued to criticize Bowles yesterday for his past support of trade with China. He said that as recently as 2000, Bowles lobbied Rep. Eva Clayton, D-1st, to support most-favored-nation status for China.
"With eight votes against a China agreement, I think it's hard for that not to be an issue in this campaign," Burr said.
"I'm going to run on my record, and I would expect his record to be fair game," he said. "I think North Carolinians expect consistency from their elected representatives."
Bowles' campaign said that Bowles called Clayton to get Chinese restrictions on imports of U.S. tobacco lifted.
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