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April 30, 2004

If I Were President: Foreign Trade

Embargo on Cuba Oppose
Considering what's running loose around the rest of the world these days, Castro is tame, and the embargo has clearly done absolutely no good. Exposure to the rest of the world is what will help turn Cuba around, isolating them just plays to Castro.

U.S. Involvement in NAFTA Support
I have lukewarm support for NAFTA, as it sounds like that it has some problems, but I do strongly support the Free Trade concept, as long as it's Fair Free Trade.

Mandatory Labor/Environment Standards in Trade Agreements Strongly Support
...but only up to a point. I don't expect third world countries to pay US scale, and if the people are willing to work under the conditions, they should be allowed to. But that's no excuse to mistreat them either. And as more companies move off shore, that will create competition for the workers --- if they're not treated well, they will be able to go elsewhere. That's admittedly a ways off, but that's where we want to go --- competition works quite well when allowed to.
Posted by abatie at April 30, 2004 01:27 PM
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