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McCAIN REVEALED: TRADE

John McCain is one of the strongest advocates in Congress for unfair trade agreements. He has made expanding free trade agreements a central part of his 2008 campaign and has demonstrated through his long record in Congress that he is not going to fi ght to keep good jobs here at home.

McCAIN'S VIEWS ON TRADE: HE JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH

McCain: NAFTA Was a Good Idea. “NAFTA was a good idea….All you’ve got to do is go to Detroit and see the thousands of trucks lined up every day or to our Southern border….Have people lost jobs? Yes, they have, and they’re gonna lose jobs.” (John McCain, Des Moines Register interview, 11/27/07)

McCain: The Problem Is We Haven’t Adjusted, Not That the Trade Deals Are Unfair. “The biggest problem is not so much what’s happened with free trade, but our inability to adjust to a new world economy,” McCain said during a town hall-style meeting at Youngstown State University in Ohio. “So we want people to be part of that revolution, and we’ve got to be part of that new economy, rather than try to cling to an old economy.” (Boston Globe, 4/23/08)

McCain: Those Jobs Aren’t Coming Back. “I’ve got to give you some straight talk—I can’t turn that around,” McCain said. “I can’t look you in the eye and tell you I believe those jobs are coming back.” (Grand Rapids Press, 4/23/08)

McCain Said Free Trade Is the ‘Best Thing That Can Happen to Our Nation.’ At a town hall meeting in Rocky River, Ohio, McCain told the audience, “Some of those manufacturing jobs are not coming back, and you know it and I know it.” McCain added, “The economists that I know and trust and the history that I study, and I study a lot of history, says that free trade is the best thing that can happen to our nation. When we have practiced protectionism, it has had devastating consequences.” (Reuters, 2/25/08)

McCain Lines Up ‘on the Business Side’ of the Trade Issue. McCain’s campaign sent out a press release saying he “voiced support for new free trade accords with Colombia and South Korea…. McCain argues that free trade is good for U.S. economic growth and competitiveness…. McCain is an ardent free trade advocate, lining up on the business side of the issue.” (McCain campaign press release, 5/21/08)

McCain Would Honor Our Trade Agreements as President. “If I am elected president, this country will honor its international agreements, including NAFTA, and we will expect the same of others,” McCain said. “And in a time of uncertainty for American workers, we will not undo the gains of years in trade agreements now awaiting final approval.” (Chattanooga Times Free Press, 6/11/08)

McCain ‘Would Negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with Almost Any Country.’ “If I were president, I would negotiate a free trade agreement with almost any country.” (Speech to National Press Club, 5/20/99)

McCain: ‘We Should Continue to Promote Free Trade.’ McCain said, “We should continue to promote free trade, as it is vital to American prosperity.” (India Abroad, New York Edition, 11/30/07)

McCain Wants a ‘Hemispheric Free Trade Agreement.’ “On the issue of trade, Mr. McCain hewed to a more traditional Republican message. ‘I want a hemispheric free trade agreement,’ he said, arguing that lower trade barriers would reduce market volatility.” (New York Sun, 6/13/08)

McCAIN HAS BEEN A LEADER FOR BUSINESS INTERESTS IN THE SENATE, SUPPORTING EVERY FREE TRADE DEAL

McCain Thinks NAFTA Was a Good Idea and Supported Letting China into the WTO. McCain voted for NAFTA and recently said, “I know NAFTA was a good idea.” He voted to allow China to enter the World Trade Organization, despite its history of workers’ rights violations. (Des Moines Register and www.BigThink.com interview, 11/07; H.R. 3450, Vote 395, 11/20/93; H.R. 4444, Vote 251, 9/19/00)

• NAFTA Resulted in the Loss of More Than a Million U.S. Jobs. From 1993 through 2004, the United States lost 1,015,290 jobs due to NAFTA. (“NAFTA’s Cautionary Tale,” Economic Policy Institute, 7/20/05)
  
• Rising Chinese Trade Deficits Resulted in 2.1 Million Displaced Jobs. “The rise in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported 2,166,000 U.S. jobs....Between 1997 and 2001, trade deficits displaced an average of 101,000 jobs per year.... Since China entered the WTO in 2001, job loss has increased to an average of 353,000 per year.” (“Costly Trade With China,” Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07)
  
• Three-Quarters of Jobs Displaced by China Were in Manufacturing. Nearly three-quarters of displaced jobs resulting from Chinese trade deficits were in manufacturing industries. (“Costly Trade With China,” Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07)
  
• 101,480 Chinese Died in Work Accidents Last Year. In the world’s deadliest coal mines, 3,786 miners were killed, a figure believed by experts to understate casualties as mine owners and officials hide accidents to avoid costly investigations and penalties. (Associated Press, 1/22/08)
  
• McCain Believes Human Rights Should Have No Bearing on MFN Trading Status. According to Project Vote Smart, McCain does not think a country’s record on human rights should have any bearing on awarding Most Favored Nation trading status. (Project VoteSmart, 1998)

John McCain Supports the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. He calls Colombia a “beacon of hope” despite the murder of more than 2,500 trade unionists there since 1986. (McCain press release, 4/11/08; Escuela Nacional Sindical)

• McCain Is Considering a Trip to Colombia. McCain “has been making a vigorous pitch for Congress to pass a new trade deal with Colombia.” He is even considering a trip to Colombia, and UPI reported he has plans to visit the country in July. McCain said the Colombian agreement “is an affirmation or a rejection of the cooperation, friendship and enormous support that the Colombian government and people have given us in trying to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States of America.” (Associated Press, 6/13/08; UPI, 6/10/08)
  
• “Delaying approval of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement will not create one American job or start one American business,” McCain said. (Los Angeles Times, 5/21/08)

John McCain Voted for CAFTA and Wants to Expand It. McCain voted for the Central America Free Trade Agreement. CAFTA cuts tariffs among the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The agreement was modeled after NAFTA. McCain said, “We need to build on the passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement by expanding U.S. trade with the region....My administration would reduce barriers to trade and press for renewed Trade Promotion Authority.” (S. 1307, Vote 170, 6/30/05; McCain’s address on Latin America to the Florida Association of Broadcasters, published 6/20/07)

McCain Has Voted for Every Other Bad Trade Agreement. McCain has never met a trade agreement he didn’t like, regardless of its negative impacts on U.S. workers. He voted for trade agreements with Oman, Singapore, Chile and Morocco, among others, as well as for Fast Track bills to make it easier for the president to enact trade agreements without strong worker protections. (S. 3569, Vote 190, 6/29/06; H.R. 2739, Vote 318, 7/31/03; H.R. 2738, Vote 319, 7/31/03; H.R. 434, Vote 353, 11/3/99; H.R. 3009, Vote 115, 5/16/02, Vote 117, 5/21/02, Vote 207, 8/1/02; S. 1269, Vote 292, 11/4/97)

McCain Helped Airbus Get a $35 Billion Contract Over Boeing; Contract Awarded Unfairly. McCain stepped in to make it easier for EADS/Airbus to get the contract for the Air Force refueling tankers over Boeing. Three of his campaign advisers lobbied for EADS, and his campaign received $28,000 in contributions from EADS execs, lobbyists and employees after he began to speak out on EADS’ behalf. The Government Accountability Office investigated the deal and found that Boeing had been unfairly judged and should have another opportunity to compete for the contract. If Boeing had won the contract, it would have supported 44,000 good jobs in more than 40 states, many of which would have been union jobs. (Lobbyist Disclosure Act Database, accessed 3/11/08; Associated Press, 3/11/08; Time.com, 3/11/08; OpenSecrets.org, accessed 3/12/08; Mobile Register, 1/16/07; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/7/08; Washington Post, 6/20/08; GAO press release, 6/18/08)

McCain Voted to Keep Tax Breaks for Companies That Reimport Foreign Manufactured Goods. McCain voted against a bill to tax multinational companies on income from foreign factories when goods are shipped back to the United States and to require companies to notify employees and give a reason before they move their jobs overseas. Essentially, he voted to reward companies that ship jobs overseas with a tax haven. (S. 1637, Vote 83, 5/5/04)

McCain Voted to Waive and Weaken Buy American Laws. McCain voted to allow the secretary of defense to waive Buy American laws for defense systems, placing our defense manufacturing industry and jobs in jeopardy. He also voted to exempt defense goods from six European countries from Buy American requirements that traditionally have required most military equipment and defense systems to be manufactured in the United States. (S. 2400, Vote 135, 6/22/04; S. 1050, Vote 191, 5/21/03)

McCain Voted to Allow Unsafe Foreign Trucks on U.S. Roads. McCain voted against an amendment to prohibit Mexican trucks from operating beyond a limited border zone because they are not held to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks. (H.R. 2299, Vote 252, 7/26/01)

McCain Abstained from Voting to Protect Steel Jobs. McCain abstained from a vote to filibuster a bill to protect steelworker jobs from illegal dumping after 10,000 steelworkers lost their jobs. (H.R. 975, Vote 178, 6/22/99)

• McCain Voted Against Providing Health Insurance for Employees and Retirees of Bankrupt Steel Companies. McCain voted against a measure that provided temporary health insurance assistance to retirees of bankrupt steel companies. (S.Amdt. 3433, Vote 117, 5/21/02)

McCAIN’S ADVISERS: A STABLE OF FREE TRADE LOBBYISTS

McCain Adviser Carly Fiorina Says Jobs Are NOT ‘America’s God-Given Right.’ Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has been described as the “face” of McCain’s economic team. According to the Associated Press, when she was still CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina defended the shift of jobs overseas in the computer industry by saying, “There is no job that is America’s God-given right anymore.” (Washington Post, 1/2/08; Associated Press, 1/7/04)

Promoting Outsourcing, Fiorina Said the U.S. Cannot Be Distracted by ‘Short-Term Employment Concerns.’ McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said the country cannot afford to be distracted by short-term financial and employment concerns. “The biggest barrier (to solutions) is our nation’s attention span,” she said.” (Washington Post, 1/8/04)

Fundraiser Peter Madigan Makes a Living Lobbying for Unfair Trade Agreements That Devastate American Workers. McCain fundraiser Peter Madigan makes a living lobbying for destructive economic and trade policies. He has lobbied on behalf of foreign governments to pass CAFTA and free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. (Arizona Republic, 5/26/08; U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Agents Registration Act, www.fara.gov; accessed 4/8/08)

Madigan Was Hired to Eliminate Barriers Governing Trade with Canada. In the contract he signed to lobby for Canada, Madigan agreed to work on “policy options that would lead to the goal of reduction and elimination of the U.S. rules and laws that pose barriers to Canadian suppliers in U.S. transportation and infrastructure contracts.” (FARA Database, accessed 3/17/2008, contract between Boland & Madigan and Canadian Government, signed by Peter Madigan on 3/17/98)

Top Adviser Charlie Black Lobbied McCain’s Offi ce for Trade Bill Favorable to El Salvador; McCain Voted in Favor of Legislation Hurtful to U.S. Workers. Charlie Black, one of McCain’s top advisers known as the “steady hand” of his campaign, or one of his associates directly lobbied McCain’s office on Sept. 15, 1999, on “CBI Issues,” a reference to H.R. 434, the Trade and Development Act, which included the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). According to the U.S. Trade Representative, CBI “currently provides 19 beneficiary countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for most goods.” McCain skipped the 1999 vote on initial passage of H.R. 434 while he was campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination. However, back from the campaign trail, McCain voted in support of passage of the conference report that led to the legislation becoming law. (New York Times, 4/13/08; USTR, accessed 5/15/08; FARA Filing signed by Black, accessed 5/15/08; Public Citizen, accessed 5/15/08; H.R. 434, Vote 98, 5/11/00)

Fired McCain Campaign Co-Chairman Lobbied for Free Trade with Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Former Rep. Thomas Loeffler is the founder and chairman of his own lobbying firm, the Loeffler Group. He was McCain’s campaign co-chairman and chief money man before being forced out of the campaign because of controversy over his lobbying for foreign governments, specifically Saudi Arabia. He has been an advocate for trade agreements with Hong Kong. (Los Angeles Times, 5/19/08; FARA Database, accessed 6/13/08)

McCain Fundraiser Kirsten Chadwick Has Lobbied for Countries on Free Trade. McCain fundraiser Kirsten Chadwick lobbied for the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain on the enactment of the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, for the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, for the government of Peru on the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement and for the Business Roundtable on CAFTA. ((Bahrain) FARA Filing signed by Kirsten Chadwick, accessed 5/12/08; (Korea) FARA Filing signed by Kirsten Chadwick, accessed 5/12/08; (Peru) FARA Filing signed by Kirsten Chadwick, accessed 5/12/08; Peru Service Agreement, accessed 5/12/08; Roll Call, 6/5/06)

McCain National Finance Director Susan Nelson Lobbied for Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. According to filings with the Department of Justice, Susan Nelson lobbied for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. Filings show that Nelson met with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, Texas Office of State and Federal Relations officials and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams to discuss Texas and Hong Kong’s business and political relationship. (FARA Filing, accessed, 5/13/08)