Political Quotes

“Mr. President, spring has sprung, April showers are giving way to May flowers, and soon we will be in the dog days of summer. Every bit as much as a tired cliche, we have again heard sabers rattle in opposition to free trade, which tends to happen at this point every even year. 'Tis the season for anti-free trade rhetoric. Opponents of free trade are vehemently arguing that the country needs to ``get tough'' and hide behind protectionist barriers. Unfortunately--and this is what is most troubling--a lot of these arguments are coming from the Republican side of the aisle. When Congress turned its attention to renewing trade promotion authority a couple of years ago, I commented that some Republicans had to do some pretty impressive verbal gymnastics to put themselves in opposition to free trade. If that was the case then, we have to be witnessing mental triple gainers here with calls to end NAFTA, to reject the Trans- Pacific Partnership outright, and to hike tariffs to ridiculous levels. It is unfortunate, indeed, when this time of year brings out strawman arguments scapegoating free trade for everything that ails the U.S. economy. The truth is, free trade expands economic freedom, spurs competition, raises productivity, facilitates job creation, and increases the standard of living for all countries if we choose to embrace it. To put it simply, free trade provides the U.S. economy with access to global markets. According to the U.S.…”