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John Edwards' campaign website
has these words on trade. It's pretty comprehensive. I
picked the best stuff. There are some weasel words, some remedies
I would change and some bromides, but overall pretty good. Leo Hindery, Jr. is his economic advisor, and convened the Horizon Project, and obviously had significant influence on this policy position. (Read more).
Be a Tough Negotiator, Unafraid to Reject Bad Deals: The American
position in trade negotiations has been formulated behind closed doors
with help from corporate lobbyists. Under the "fast track" procedure,
Congress could not amend the resulting deals. Not surprisingly, trade
deals include special privileges for American multinational
corporations but not protections for worker rights. For example, while
the core NAFTA agreement failed to include any labor standards, its
Chapter 11 gave corporations sweeping rights to challenge national laws
in secretive tribunals, putting investor profits ahead of American
sovereignty and protections for health and the environment.
Fight Currency Manipulation: Some of our
trading partners intentionally manipulate their currencies to keep the
price of their exports low, putting American businesses at a great
disadvantage. Edwards believes that other nations like China and Japan
must make meaningful progress toward ending currency manipulation.
Future deals must include strong, clear language on impermissible
currency practices. Edwards will also make it easier for the Department
of the Treasury to act against unfair trade practices by removing the
intent requirement and allowing a range of responses, such as
suspending government purchases from the foreign country to taking a
case directly to the WTO.
Prosecute
Violations of Trade Deals: Too often, Washington has looked the other
way while other countries have broken trade laws and failed to live up
to their commitments to open markets to U.S. goods. The U.S. Trade
Representative is currently responsible for enforcement, but often
neglects trade deals as soon as the ink dries. As a result, trade
violations like subsidies are overlooked, unsafe products enter the
country, intellectual property is pirated, and goods are counterfeited.
Edwards will assign top prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice
to the job of enforcing trade laws, including the stronger labor and
environment standards he will negotiate. He will also go after illegal
trade subsidies and insist that China and other countries move toward
ending manipulation of their currencies, seeking WTO sanctions if
necessary.
Eliminate Tax Incentives to
Move Offshore: The U.S. tax code encourages multinational corporations
to invest overseas by allowing them to indefinitely defer taxation on
their foreign profits. A recent $90 billion "tax holiday" for
multinational corporations failed to create jobs, as President Bush
promised, and many of these companies laid off employees instead. The
effective tax rate on foreign non-financial income is less than 5
percent, which is well below the U.S. statutory rate of 35 percent. In
some cases corporations actually receive subsidies to invest overseas
through a "negative tax." Edwards will eliminate the benefit of
deferral in low-tax countries, ensuring that American companies'
profits are taxed when earned at either the U.S. rate or by a foreign
country at a comparable rate. [NYT, 7/27/2007, Grubert and Mutti, 2002;
Altshuler and Grubert, 2001; Treasury, 2000]
Ensure
the Safety of Imported Food and Drugs: Food imports more than doubled
in the last decade and Americans eat 260 pounds of imported foods a
year. Imported food poses risks, but Washington has failed to respond
due to its pro-business ideology. [AP, 4/16/07; NY Times, 4/30/07]
Enforce
Mandatory "Country of Origin" Labeling: Large meat packers,
agribusiness and retailers like Wal-Mart are blocking the
implementation of right-to-know law for the origin of meat, produce and
nuts. Edwards will finally enforce mandatory country-of-origin
labeling, letting families choose the origin of their food. [USDA,
2007; The Hill, 4/7/05; National Family Farm Coalition, 2007]
Increase
Inspections of Imports: Less than 1 percent of imported food is
inspected, down from 8 percent in 1992. Edwards will restructure our
food inspection responsibilities and increase FDA inspections. [NY
Times, 5/16/07; NY Times, 7/1/07; GAO, 1998]
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