I am against free trade, I believe NAFTA is one of the worst things that America got itself involved in.
I'm no fan of Bill Clinton in general, but that man understood trade policy. If there is any one reason for the massive economic growth of the 1990s it is NAFTA and free trade. Yes, some jobs have been lost, but so many more have been gained from free trade. We have been insourcing high paying jobs at a much faster rate then we've been losing them. This is a healthy and necessary part of our economy.
And what would propose instead of free trade and NAFTA? Would you advocate a return to Smoot-Hawley protectionism and economic disaster? Would you be willing to punish the poor in this country by raising prices on every manufactured good there is to purchase in this country?
The answer to outsourcing (which is a much overstated problem) is not to cancel NAFTA, but rather to end some of the ridiculous regulations that various tentacles of government have placed on business so that they can compete with Chinese, Mexican, and Indian business. We need a federal right to work law. We should end industry wide unionization. We should lower the minimum wage. We should repeal the payroll tax. We should also change our immigration policies from favoring family reunification to favoring professional expertise. We should bring in more Indian, Chinese, and Mexican professionals to work for American companies.
I firmly believe that NAFTA is the best economic policy that has come out of any administration since Reagan cut taxes. I also think that by lowing prices here and raising wages abroad, free trade manages to raise living standards in both countries engaged in free trade.
