Saturday, September 10, 2011

ROMNEY and TRADE

The following are excerpts from an article written by Ian Fletcher, author of " Free Trade Doesn't Work: What should replace it and Why ". Mr. Fletcher is no conservative. He is, at best, a Centrist, yet his comments reflect a likely reaction by Independents and Centrists to Mitt Romney's increasingly detailed agenda for America. These comments from " Is Romney for Real on Trade", published yesterday in the Huffington Post are relevant for their source as well as their substance:

" Some good news for once !" Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's stand on trade issues, if he truly means what he says and goes the full distance with his published proposals, offers America the best shot at a real and sustained economic recovery that any major officeholder or candidate has yet offered."
" His proposals aren't perfect, they aren't consistent, and I have no interest in endorsing the entirety of his economic philosophy, let alone his candidacy. But they are still an order of magnitude more serious about fixing America's catastrophic trade mess than what has been proposed elsewhere."
" Like it or not, he's way ahead of Obama on this stuff."

1. ON ORDER TO SANCTION CHINA FOR UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES

" This is big. Currency manipulation is a huge part of China's surplus with the U.S. And to actually mention duties ?! That's been unthinkable up to now. Obama certainly hasn't touched it."
" Aha! He's ( Romney ) figured out that trade agreements on paper don't amount to anything. They have to be enforced with real sanctions. This is radical."
" Yup. Time to stop playing by Sermon on the Mount rules with a dictatorship."

2. CREATE REAGAN ECONOMIC ZONE

" Unfortunate nomenclature , obviously aimed at Republican primary voters, but the principle here is sound: you can't have free trade with everybody, only those who genuinely accept fair rules of the game."

3. IMPOSE TARGETED TARIFFS OR ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

" The ' t " word! Gosh! Haven't heard that from anyone but fringe candidates
like Trump."


4. DESIGNATE CHINA A CURRENCY MANIPULATOR AND IMPOSE COUNTERVAILING DUTIES

" If China fails to move quickly to bring its currency to fair value, the Department of the Treasury in a Romney administration will designate China a currency manipulator and the Department of Commerce will impose countervailing duties." ( Excerpt from Romney's paper )

" This last sentence, if taken seriously, would amount to the biggest action in defense of America's trade interests since Nixon imposed a 10 % tariff in 1971."

" The time has come to lay out a series of steps that China must take to become a responsible member of the global economy. And the time has also come to lay out the conseqiences that would accompany its failure to make rapid progress toward that end. Despite what the Obama administration appears to believe, the United States is working from a position of strength. Mitt Romney understands that fundamental point and all that follows from it. He will seek to right our trade relationship with China and strengthen our commercial ties with the erst of the world. Nothing less than economic recovery is at stake." ( Excerpt from Romney paper ).

"Yes, Governor Romney, this is correct. We're never truly going to recover without fixing trade. You seem to be the only candidate who understands that."

" This, above all, is a VERY serious package ."

Thoughtful commentary from the very kind of voter we MUST win to win the election


CraigS


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most conservatives hate tariffs, but I like the fact that a tariff gives our tax collectors the least power over individual Americans. With an income tax, the tax man knows how much we make, how we invest, and to a large extent how we spend our money. A national sales tax would eliminate the tax man knowing how much we make, but a national sales tax would mean that the tax man knows how we spend every dime. A tariff confines the tax man's power to the end of the dock (figuratively speaking). Once the tax man oversees the unloading of goods from either a ship or plane (or inspects goods coming in on rail), the tax man's power is finished. When he walks off the dock at the end of the day, he doesn't have power over anyone.

Anonymous said...

China's currency manipulation is legendary and has been going on forever. It is next to impossible to compete with them because they do not do business like Americans and Western Europeans. I have worked with a naturalized boss from China, and worked with many Chinese in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Until you understand that they think differently than we do, they will run over you. Mitt understands that we have got to take a stand and push back, or China will continue to get everything they want, and we will end up with nothing that we want.

AZ

J said...

No other candidate in this election but Mitt Romney is willing to get tough with China.

That's another reason in a long list of reasons why Mitt Romney deserves to win the 2012 election.