Values Voter Presidential Debate, sponsored by numerous value-based and faith-based organizations: on Free Trade

Alan Keyes: Trade sanctions on Saudi Arabia for persecuting Christians

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: Yes.

Alan Keyes: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Alan Keyes: China trade contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

Alan Keyes: North American Union is betrayal of our sovereignty

A: The simple answer to your question is yes. I would undo it all, because I believe that it represents not just a surrender of our borders, not just something that involves us in an understanding of trade that is not fair to our workers, not fair to our people. It is the betrayal of the sovereignty of the people of the United States. And by that, I don’t just mean sovereignty along the borders and physical control. We have elites who no longer listen to us. We say that we want secure borders first, and they refuse to give them to us. We say that we want respect for the sovereignty of the people of the US, and they refuse to give it to us. Time and time again, it has become clear that somewhere along the way, we have lost control of those who are supposed to represent the sovereignty of our people.

Duncan Hunter: North American Union is only free trade in one direction

A: I have got an idea for a real North American Union. And that would have been if Canada and Mexico, when America went into Iraq, if they had stood with us instead of running away from us, that would have been a real “North American Union.” Now, this isn’t free trade. It’s only free trade in one direction. China is moving massive amounts of goods into this country, displacing American jobs. They are cheatin on trade by devaluing their currency by more than 40%, and that is sweeping American products off the shelf and taking American jobs away. And this mass of [Mexican] trucks that come into this country will represent exposure to terrorism, because you are going to have massive cargo containers coming in, exposure for criminal elements, and lastly, that American trucking family will lose their jobs with the massive number of trucks coming in with cheap labor and cheap parts. No on the North American Union.

Duncan Hunter: Inappropriate to impose sanctions for persecuting Christians

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: Yes.

Duncan Hunter: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

John Cox: Trade sanctions on Saudi Arabia for persecuting Christians

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: Yes.

John Cox: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

John Cox: China trade contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

John Cox: Trade is a weapon of peace

John Cox: Never surrender the sovereignty of the United States

A: I will never surrender the sovereignty of the United States. We absolutely have to secure the borders. We have to address the illegal immigration problem. We have to do it by putting some CEOs in jail. We have got to start enforcing the law against employing illegal aliens. That’s going to solve the problem. But we have to also make sure that we have trade with other countries. So, I’m not interested in giving up our sovereignty, but I am interested in opening up channels of trade, because, you know what, we benefit when we sell Microsoft software and we sell cell phones made by Motorola around the world.

Mike Huckabee: Trade sanctions on Saudi Arabia for persecuting Christians

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: Yes.

Mike Huckabee: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Mike Huckabee: China trade contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

Mike Huckabee: This country can never yield its sovereignty for any reason

A: I believe with all my heart is that this country can never, ever, ever yield its sovereignty to any other country for any reason, under any circumstance, ever That’s why I would agree that we not only need closed and secure borders, but more importantly, we need a re-understanding that we are a sovereign nation, and we do not yield ourselves over.

Ron Paul: Inappropriate to impose sanctions for persecuting Christians

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: Yes.

Ron Paul: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Ron Paul: No North American Union; no WTO; no UN

A: Not only do I not want a North American Union, I want us out of the U.N., the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA. NAFTA has nothing to do for free trade. It’s a pretense to lower tariffs, but it’s a reason to go talk to the WTO to raise tariffs. We need free trade. That’s very, very important. But you don’t get that by world government.

Ron Paul: China trade not contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

Sam Brownback: China trade contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Sam Brownback: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Sam Brownback: China trade contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

Sam Brownback: China trade very contingent on human rights & product safety

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO: Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK: Yes.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. Good question.
• KEYES: Yes.

Sam Brownback: Opposed to North American Union that gives up sovereignty

A: I am opposed to open borders. I am opposed to a North American Union that gives up our sovereignty. I am opposed to doing that. So, yes to trade. No to unions. And yes to enforcing the laws when you have agreements between countries.

Sam Brownback: Trade is key to growing our economy

But I also think you gotta enforce your trade laws. And that’s something we haven’t done, particularly towards China. I think we’re having a lot of problems of products coming in because we haven’t enforced our trade laws.

Tom Tancredo: No NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico

• HUCKABEE: No.
• TANCREDO: No.
• COX: No.
• BROWNBACK: No.
• PAUL: No.
• HUNTER: No.
• KEYES: No.

Tom Tancredo: Don’t diminish sovereignty in hopes of influencing trade

A: Recently, Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico, stated that Mexico does not end at its borders. He said that where there is a Mexican, there is now Mexico. To hear a president of another country suggest that the borders between you do not exist, and to not have our president turn to them and say, “Are you nuts?”--there is something called a border, and it must be defended. We are not simply just residents of the North American continent. That is exactly where this thing is going, a sort of an economic union where everybody believes trade is such a good thing--and I certainly think trade can be good--but why do you have to go ahead and diminish your national sovereignty in the hopes of influencing trade? Never will that happen in my administration.