Newt Gingrich on Free Trade Former Republican Representative (GA-6) and Speaker of the House

Protectionism helps China & India challenge US supremacy

The challenge to American economic supremacy from 1.3 billion Chinese and more than 1.1 billion Indians is vastly greater than anything we have previously seen. India’s embrace of capitalism and China’s bizarre combination of Marxist-Leninist government and free market initiatives will create a future where one-fourth of the world’s markets will be controlled by these countries. Those who advocate economic isolationism and protectionism are advocating a policy that could help China and India surpass the US in economic power in our children’s or grandchildren’s lifetime.

Mutual trade: neither free trade nor protectionism

Gingrich offered a six-point prescription:
1. Base the welfare system on work
2. expand day care--private and public--to accommodate welfare mothers
3. make "mutual trade"--neither free trade nor protectionism--the country's goal
4. privatize many government services; starting with NASA
5. reform the Pentagon, with a move away from all-volunteer standing forces to more emphasis on reserves and the National Guard; and
6. curb cost-of-living increases in social programs such as Social Security.