NAFTA, Free Trade and the Presidential Campaign

NAFTA, Free Trade and the Presidential Campaign
Obama and Clinton have both called for renegotiating the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. But the Bush administration says it is working, and wants Congress to approve deals with other countries. Transcript of radio broadcast:
24 April 2008

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The debate over free trade has intensified in this election year in the United States.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if they could not renegotiate it as president. The North American Free Trade Agreement, they say, has cost high-wage jobs in the United States.

Their message is clear to people in states like Pennsylvania that have lost thousands of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has criticized such talk about NAFTA. Senator McCain says the biggest problem is not free trade, but the inability to change with the new world economy.

Congress passed the agreement with Canada and Mexico in nineteen ninety-three. President Bill Clinton signed it into law, though this is the first year NAFTA is fully in effect.

United States trade officials say trade among the NAFTA nations more than tripled from nineteen ninety-three to last year. They say jobs, manufacturing and wages in the United States increased faster in the last fourteen years than in the fourteen years before NAFTA.

Senators Clinton and Obama say Canada and Mexico should agree to add protections for the environment and organized labor. Separate agreements deal with these issues now, but critics say the provisions are weak.

President Bush met this week with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in New Orleans. All three said now is not the time to renegotiate NAFTA.

The Bush administration wants Congress to approve new trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

The free trade agreement with South Korea would be the biggest since NAFTA. South Korea would cut import taxes on American goods like beef and cars, but duties on rice would stay in place.

Last week South Korea announced plans to fully reopen its beef market to American products. It banned imports at the end of two thousand three over a case of mad cow disease in Washington state.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. labor group in the United States opposes the free trade agreement with Colombia. It says Colombia has a poor record on labor rights. Seventeen labor organizers have been killed in Colombia this year.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted to delay action on the agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says economic issues at home are more pressing.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

----------------------------Google Translate

北美自由贸易协定，自由贸易和总统竞选
奥巴马和克林顿总统都呼吁重新谈判贸易协定，与墨西哥和加拿大。但布什政府说，这是工作，并希望国会批准处理与其他国家。全文电台广播：
2008年4月24日

这是美国之音特别英语经济学报告。

辩论的自由贸易加剧了在这次选举中，今年在美国。

民主党人希拉里克林顿和巴拉克奥巴马都扬言要退出北美自由贸易协定，如果他们无法重新谈判担任主席。北美自由贸易协定，他们说，成本高工资的职位在美国。

他们的信息是明确的，以人民的国家一样，宾夕法尼亚州警方透露，已失去了数以千计的制造业就业机会的外国国家。

共和党总统候选人麦凯恩批评了这种谈论北美自由贸易协定。麦凯恩参议员说，最大的问题是没有自由贸易，但无法改变与新的世界经济。

国会通过的协议，与加拿大和墨西哥在1993年。总统比尔克林顿签署成为法律，虽然这是第一年，北美自由贸易协定，是完全的效果。

美国贸易官员说，贸易之间的北美自由贸易协定的国家增加了两倍多，从1993年到去年。他们说，就业机会，制造业和工资，在美国的增加速度更快，在过去十四年，比在十四年前，北美自由贸易协定。

参议员克林顿和奥巴马说，加拿大和墨西哥应同意加入保护环境和有组织的劳动力。另行签订协议，处理这些问题现在，但批评人士说，该条文是薄弱。

布什总统会见了在本星期与墨西哥总统费利佩卡尔德龙和加拿大总理斯蒂芬哈珀在新的新奥尔良。所有这三个说，现在还不是时候重新谈判北美自由贸易协定。

布什政府希望国会批准新的贸易协议，与韩国，哥伦比亚和巴拿马。

自由贸易协定与韩国将成为最大的自北美自由贸易协定。韩国将削减进口关税对美国的商品一样，牛肉和汽车，但职责，对水稻会留在地方。

上周韩国宣布，计划充分重开牛肉市场，以美国产品的需求。它禁止进口在去年底2000 3超过案件疯牛病在华盛顿州。

该a.f.l.-c.i.o.劳动集团在美国反对自由贸易协定与哥伦比亚。它说，哥伦比亚有一个纪录欠佳对劳动的权利。 17劳动的组织者已被杀害在哥伦比亚今年。

本月初，众议院表决拖延采取行动的协议。议长佩洛西说，经济问题在家里都更为迫切。

这是该美国之音特别英语经济学的报告，书面，由马里奥里特尔。我史蒂夫ember 。