State of New Mexico secondary Archives: on Free Trade
Ben Ray Lujan:
Reckless trade wars have raised prices on everyday items
We must approach our relationships with allies and trading partners responsibly, with strong policies that protect the American worker, labor standards, and the environment. I've only supported trade plans that put our economy and national
security first. Trump is attempting to undermine both with his reckless trade wars with China, Mexico, and other countries that have only hurt New Mexican families by raising prices on everyday items like food products, technology, and other household go
Source: 2020 New Mexico Senate campaign website BenRayLujan .com
Jul 8, 2020
Bob Walsh:
Support & expand free trade
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Support & expand free trade"?
A: Strongly support
Source: OnTheIssues interview for 2020 New Mexico race
May 1, 2020
Dennis Kucinich:
First act as president will be to cancel NAFTA
We have to do everything we can to secure our manufacturing base, and that means giving a critical examination to those trade agreements that have caused a loss of hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions of jobs, in this economy.
As president of the United States, my first act in office, therefore, will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO and return to bilateral trade, conditioned on workers’ rights, human rights and the environment.
NAFTA makes it impossible to be able to protect workers’ rights. Now, those people say they’re going to put conditions on NAFTA. If you put conditions on NAFTA, that’s WTO illegal.
Unless we cancel NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO, we aren’t going to [improve the economy]. I’m the one, first day in office, cancel NAFTA, cancel the WTO, return to bilateral trade with all those conditions we’ve just spoken about.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Dennis Kucinich:
Need specific worker rights written into trade agreements
The only way that we can go back to trade which will work for the American people and for people all over North America is to make sure that we have workers’ rights, human rights and environmental quality principles in trade. And by workers’ right I mean
this: - the right to collective bargaining,
- the right to strike.
- the right to join a union,
- the right to decent wages and benefits,
- the right to a safe workplace,
- the right to a secure retirement.
Those have to be written
specifically into our trade agreements and they were not. We had intellectual property written into the trade agreements. And we need specifically written into the trade agreements prohibitions on child labor, slave labor, prison labor.
But unless we cancel NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO, we aren’t going to get there. So all of this is just talk. I’m the one, first day in office, cancel NAFTA, cancel the WTO, return to bilateral trade with all those conditions we’ve just spoken about.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Dennis Kucinich:
Companies profit from trade based on Third World misery
Q: If we follow your advice and start to pull out of some of NAFTA and the WTO, won’t the price of everything in Wal-Mart and Kmart go up?KUCINICH: The real question is what kind of profits do the Kmarts and the Wal-Marts of the world make?
Q: Well, Kmart, not too much.
KUCINICH: But on the misery of those people in Third World countries who are working for pennies an hour and are finding themselves unable to support their own families.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Dick Gephardt:
Race to the bottom if we have no trade standards
Q: We’ve heard mixed support for NAFTA & FTAA. GEPHARDT: I’m surprised to hear the outpouring of support for standards for the environment and labor in treaties like NAFTA. Most of the candidates here voted for those treaties without proper standards.
I took on my own president on this. I thought Bill Clinton was wrong, because we didn’t have those standards. We had side agreements that didn’t mean anything, but we needed in the treaty. They’re right. We do have a race to the bottom.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Gary Johnson:
Tariffs hurt U.S. industries
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on China?Martin Heinrich (D): No. Sledgehammer where need surgical approach.
Gary Johnson (L): No. Hurt US industries that need imports like solar.
Mick Rich (R): Yes. Current trade with China is not fair.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Gavin Clarkson:
Free trade is only free if it's truly fair
Q: What do you propose the U.S. do with regards to Mexico?A: Cut a better deal on NAFTA. Free trade is only free if it's truly fair. The energy industry must be free to export from New Mexico into Mexico.
Q: Do you support or oppose President Trump's imposition of higher tariffs on China?
A: Strategic deterrence is the use of threats to convince another party to either refrain from initiating some course of action or to cease a course of action.
President Trump's tough stance on NAFTA and his actions against China clearly demonstrate that credible threat, and China is already making concessions.
Source: Ballotpedia.org Connection: 2020 New Mexico Senate race
Nov 1, 2018
Gavin Clarkson:
Supports "America First" trade policies
I support President Trump's prioritizing American workers and our national interests. I strongly supported his America First trade policies in
2018 when even most Republicans doubted they would work. We've now seen real results from this agenda with USMCA and China making serious concessions towards free and fair trade.
Source: Albuquerque Journal on 2020 New Mexico Senate race
Jun 14, 2020
Howard Dean:
Free trade based on labor and environmental standards
I do not agree that we ought to get rid of NAFTA and the WTO. But you can't get into the European Union unless you have exactly the same labor and environmental and human rights standards that you do in all those countries. We ought not to be in the
business of having free and open borders with countries that don't have the same environmental, labor and human rights standards. And if you do that, we're going to be able to create manufacturing jobs in America again and they'll stay in America.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Jeff Apodaca:
Supports possibility of trade with southern neighbor
Both Cervantes and Apodaca spoke of the possibility of trade with New Mexico's southern neighbor,
Cervantes calling the border with Mexico one of the state's greatest assets.
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican on 2018 New Mexico governor debate
Jan 23, 2018
Joe Cervantes:
The border with Mexico is one of our state's greatest assets
Asked about immigration policy and the border wall being pursued by the Trump administration, Lujan Grisham cited her recent advocacy in Washington, both fighting against funding of the wall and advocating for Dreamers--young immigrants who
entered the country illegally as children and gained temporary protection from deportation under an Obama administration policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
Both Cervantes and Apodaca spoke of the possibility of trade with New Mexico's southern neighbor, Cervantes calling the border with Mexico one of the state's greatest assets.
"There's no way we're going to deport or get rid of DACA kids or any other kids," Apodaca said.
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican on 2018 New Mexico governor debate
Jan 23, 2018
John Edwards:
National venture capital fund for those hurt by trade
You know, the president goes around the country speaking Spanish. The only Spanish he speaks when it comes to jobs is, "Hasta la vista." Here's what I would do as president. I would make sure in our trade agreements that we had real environmental
protections, real labor protections, prohibitions against child labor and forced labor, so that we give our workers a better chance to compete. But it's not enough to just protect the jobs that we have. We have to create jobs, and particularly in
those communities where the job loss has been greatest. First, I would stop these tax loopholes that give American businesses a reason to go overseas. Instead, we ought to give tax breaks to companies that'll keep jobs right here in America. Then I would
identify those places in America that have been hit the hardest, particularly by trade, and create a national venture capital fund for businesses that will locate there, give tax incentives to existing business and industry that will come there.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
John Kerry:
FTAA needs more labor and environmental standards
I don't support the Free Trade Agreement of America nor the Central American Free Trade Agreement as it is today because they do desperately need to have increased labor standards, environment standards, to bring other countries up. You can't have trade
be a rush to the bottom, and you can't leave other nations with a one-way street, and you can't abuse people the way it has been. It would be wonderful to have a president who could find the rest of the countries in this hemisphere. And I will do that.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
John Kerry:
Fix NAFTA-canceling it would be disastrous
I am as strongly committed as Kucinich is to worker rights, but it would be disastrous to just cancel NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO. You have to fix it. You have to have a president who understands how to use the power that we have as the
world's biggest marketplace to properly leverage the kind of behavior that we want. You also have to have a president who is prepared to have an enforcement structure through the powers of the various sections of the trade agreement.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Joseph Lieberman:
Bush Recession will become Dean Depression
LIEBERMAN: Dean said in an interview that he would not have bilateral trade agreements with any country that did not observe fully American standards. Now that would mean we'd break our trade agreements with Mexico & with most of the rest of the world.
That would cost us millions of jobs. If that ever happened, I'd say that the Bush recession would be followed by the Dean depression.DEAN: Our trade relations should rely on labor standards. It doesn't have to be American labor standards; it could be
the International Labor Organization standards. We cannot continue to ship our jobs to countries where they get paid 50 cents an hour with no overtime, no labor protections and no right to organize.
LIEBERMAN: Dean, in The Washington Post, referred
to American standards, not international standards.
DEAN: Either is fine with me.
LIEBERMAN: That's a reassuring change of position. I totally support the application of international labor standards to all of our bilateral trade agreements.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Joseph Lieberman:
I'm for fair trade for the Americas
Q: Do you support the FTAA--the Free Trade of the Americas? LIEBERMAN: I certainly support the goal. American manufacturing is bleeding. The president [asked] China to stop linking their currency to the dollar, which is an unfair advantage
they get over American manufacturing. Came back empty-handed. We can't do that. I'm for trade, but for fair trade. The same is true with regard to fair trade for the Americas and Latin America. We have turned our back on our allies to the south.
Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003
Mark Ronchetti:
Review trade agreements; put American worker first
We need to continuously evaluate our trade relationship with China. COVID-19 has made it clear we cannot continue to export industry to China at the expense of
American jobs and national security. We should be continuously reviewing our agreements with other countries to confirm we are putting the American worker first.
Source: Albuquerque Journal on 2020 New Mexico Senate race
Aug 26, 2020
Mark Ronchetti:
Protect jobs and national security before trading with China
We need to continuously evaluate our trade relationship with China. COVID-19 has made it clear we cannot continue to export industry to
China at the expense of American jobs and national security. We should be continuously reviewing our agreements with other countries to confirm we are putting American workers first.
Source: Albuquerque Journal on 2020 New Mexico Senate race
Jan 7, 2020
Martin Heinrich:
Tariffs are sledgehammer where surgical approach needed
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on China?Martin Heinrich (D): No. Sledgehammer where need surgical approach.
Gary Johnson (L): No. Hurt US industries that need imports like solar.
Mick Rich (R): Yes. Current trade with China is not fair.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Michelle Lujan-Grisham:
Opposes tariffs & short-sighted trade war
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D): No. Concerned will cause "dangerous & short-sighted" trade war, harming NM agriculture & consumers.
Steve Pearce (R): Some reservations. "I will not support putting our businesses at a disadvantage & raising prices on our consumers."
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Governor race
Oct 9, 2018
Mick Rich:
Aluminum & steel tariffs are a way to cut a better deal
Rich told NM Political Report Trump's words make people nervous, but his actions aren't always as bad. To Rich, Trump's tariffs on aluminum and steel were a "shot across the bow" and a way to cut a better deal.And Trump's public rhetoric about North
Korea, he said, were ends to justify means as Trump and the country's leader Kim Jong-Un agreed to meet to discuss nuclear weapons. "I've learned to watch what people do and not what they say," Rich said.
Rich qualified his positions a little more.
Rich said he wants to serve the state of New Mexico, not the president or Congress.
- "When [Trump is] good for the state, I'm good with him," Rich said.
- On U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "He's enforcing the laws and I'm good with that."
- Rich said it "might surprise some people" that his other political inspiration was the late Gov. Bruce King, a Democrat. King was "just a good guy," Rich said. "He was easy to talk to and he cared about people."
Source: NMPoliticalReport.com on 2018 New Mexico Senatorial race
Mar 19, 2018
Mick Rich:
Current trade with China is not fair;impose tariffs
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on China?Martin Heinrich (D): No. Sledgehammer where need surgical approach.
Gary Johnson (L): No. Hurt US industries that need imports like solar.
Mick Rich (R): Yes. Current trade with China is not fair.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Steve Pearce:
Opposes tariffs because they hurt our businesses
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D): No. Concerned will cause "dangerous & short-sighted" trade war, harming NM agriculture & consumers.
Steve Pearce (R): Some reservations. "I will not support putting our businesses at a disadvantage & raising prices on our consumers."
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Governor race
Oct 9, 2018
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023