Need help...Did Bush support NAFTA?

[IN-dem]

My uncle is blaming Clinton for losing his job because of NAFTA. I thought bush was in favor of NAFTA anybody have any info for me?

[cynatnite]

1. I believe Clinton signed NAFTA into law...georgie signed CAFTA n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Sorry. Clinton gave us that "gift"

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[Turbineguy]

3. Clinton signed NAFTA

Bush would have supported it if he had been prez and somebody had told him about the giant sucking sound.

[benddem]

4. Clinton signed it

but Bush was very much in favor of it.

[IN-dem]

5. Thats what I thought Bush was in favor of it

I need information that says that Bush WAS in favor of it. Then/Now whenever.

[sandnsea]

6. Republicans pushed NAFTA

Yes, Clinton signed it and some Dems supported it, but NAFTA was much more a Republican policy than Democratic. Democrats who opposed NAFTA were called anti-business, anti-growth, bla bla bla. Supporting NAFTA was the Democratic response to the Reagan era "liberals are socialists" rantings of people like Rush Limbaugh. That's what happened, so if he doesn't like NAFTA he needs to know he's in the corner of people like Kennedy and Gephardt.

[Pepperbelly]

7. Bush I had negotiated the deal ...

it had been in the works long before he drove up. Your uncle should spend more time researching and less complaining and he wouldn't get his panties in a wad over what he doesn't understand.

Yeah, NAFA MIGHT suck (i am still unconvinced one way or the other) but it was damned near an historical imperative with the advance work done since forever.

The treaty was initialed by the signatories in October 1992 (note for your Unc that Bill did not take office until January '93). Clinton did sign it in '93 and it was approved by a slender majority in the House and a much larger one in the Senate.

Did it cause outsourcing?

Who can say?

At this point, we are so far through the Looking Glass, I hesitate to single one thing more than another although if I were you, I would point out to unc that the "tax reforms" instituted by the gop has made it far more financially beneficial to do so. In fact, virtually all barriers to it have been removed and Bush's own Treasury Secretary kinda like it.

:shrug:

[Maple]

8. Reagan signed the FTA between Canada & US

Bush Sr signed NAFTA

Clinton signed a side agreement to it on labor and environment

[Sarojin]

9. Perot was the only one against it n/t

[Zynx]

10. Bush's father originally pushed for it, but it didn't finalize until 1993.

The Bush family loves it, but so does Clinton.

[Maple]

11. 1993 was only the parallel agreement

[Zynx]

12. I thought the bill in general did not pass the Senate until 1993.

Sorry, but I was young at the time and don't remember things clearly in the early 1990s.

[Maple]

14. Jeepers! HOW young??

:D Jes kiddin'

Here's a timeline:

http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/integ/chronologie.asp?langue=eng&menu=integ

[Zynx]

18. Here's what I was talking about:

December 17, 1992
Official signing of NAFTA by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, US president George Bush, and Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, subject to its final approval by the federal Parliaments of the three countries.

See the signing happened in 1992, but passage was not in 1992.

BTW, the answer is single digit years young. ;-)

[Maple]

21. Heh heh

It was a done deal...fast tracking.

Bush Sr signed it...the rest was paperwork.

Single digits hmmmm.

[KBlagburn]

13. Ford, Carter, Bush Sr, & Clinton all supported NAFTA. Here is a LINK

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/110697-remarks-by-president-in-photo-op-with-presidents-bush-ford-and-carter.htm


THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(College Station, Texas)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release November 6, 1997
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT CLINTON,
PRESIDENT BUSH, PRESIDENT FORD,
AND PRESIDENT CARTER
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
Inside George Bush Presidential Library
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
10:40 A.M. CST


…….
PRESIDENT BUSH: May I inject an answer to a question that has not been asked? I have great respect and I expect -- I'm not trying to speak for President Carter or President Ford -- for what President Clinton is trying to do in getting fast track through this Congress -- through this Republican Congress. And he is doing the right thing. The Congress must support him in the House of Representatives, as they did in the Senate. And I am passionately committed to his position -- President Clinton's position -- on free and fair trade.
And I don't know if anyone wants to add to that. But this is an important moment, given what's happening out there.

PRESIDENT FORD: Well, I strongly reiterate my previous comment to the effect that fast track legislation is critically important for substantive reasons and for U.S. leadership around the world. We've had that kind of legislation since the day I was President and we hope to have it because it's important, critically, to the future of the United States as a leader of the nation.
So we hope and pray you'll get the votes tomorrow, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT CARTER: Well, all of us former Presidents have endorsed not only NAFTA earlier, but also fast track now. In January, my wife and I and others were down in Latin America and saw the tremendous progress being made there. As a matter of fact, the Mercosur countries, which President Clinton visited recently, have already signed separate trade agreements with Mexico, with Canada, and with Europe. And I think, first of all, we're going to get left out if we don't sign fast track and get the negotiations done. And secondly, it's going to be a slap in the face to our natural friends and allies in Latin America.
The last three or four days I've been calling as many Democratic Congress members as I could, trying to get the Democrats to come and support fast track. I think we have a much better chance among Republicans than we do Democrats. So I think we've got a lot of work to do, but it couldn't be a more important issue at this moment than to get fast track approved.

Q How does it look, President Clinton?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: It looks like we'd be better off if they were in Congress -- (laughter) -- and if I was. We're working hard. And let me say, the strong position that President Bush, President Carter, and President Ford has taken is immeasurably helpful. You know we have a lot of opposition, and I think you all know where it's coming from. I wish we could have a secret vote in the Congress, we'd pass it three or four to one.
But we're going to do the very best we can, and we're very hopeful. And we've been gaining ground in the last day -- we had a great announcement yesterday by a group of Texas members of the House, supporting it, and we're working on another group today. We're just going to keep working until tomorrow morning and see where we are. But I think we've got a good chance to win.

PRESIDENT FORD: Let us know if we can help make any calls.

[Maple]

15. Yes, of course they do

So do most of your currrent candidates.

[IN-dem]

17. Thank you KBlagburn

[NaturalHigh]

16. George HW Bush was high on NAFTA.

[Rainscents]

19. It looks like, Reagan started this shit!!!

[Maple]

22. All the presidents supported it

as did Gore and Kerry.

[LittleClarkie]

20. I think what the newbie wants is a quote from Governor Bush

I'm sure he/she is aware that Clinton signed it. But what was Junior SAYING about it at the time?

There's an article over by Salon.com that's called Bush vs Bush, re: what Junior said when he was Governor vs what he's said after he became president, esp. after 9/11 and the neocon hijacking. He mostly parroted daddy before and agreed with him.

[IN-dem]

23. Yes this is what I wanted

What did jr. Bush have to say about all of this. I will go to salon.com and look up some stuff.

[LittleClarkie]

25. Here you go, just found it at an "On the Issues" site

George W. Bush on NAFTA + WTO
Establish Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005
We must affirm our commitment to complete negotiations on the free trade area of the Americans by January, 2005. Nothing we do in Quebec will be more important or have a greater long-term impact. It will make our hemisphere the largest free trade area in the world, encompassing 34 countries and 800 million people.

There’s a vital link between freedom of people and freedom of commerce. Democratic freedoms cannot flourish unless our hemisphere also builds a prosperity whose benefits are widely shared. And open trade is an essential foundation for that prosperity and that possibility.

Open trade fuels the engines of economic growth that creates new jobs and new income. It applies the power of markets to the needs of the poor. It spurs the process of economic and legal reform. It helps dismantle protectionist bureaucracies that stifle incentive and invite corruption. And open trade reinforces the habits of liberty that sustain democracy over the long term.
Source: Remarks to the Organization of American States Apr 17, 2001

Add Chile, Brazil, Argentina, & others to NAFTA
Q: Would you pursue a hemispheric trade deal extending the benefits of NAFTA to Central and South America and the Caribbean?

A: My administration will foster democracy and level barriers to trade. If elected, my goal will be free trade agreements with all the nations of Latin America. We can do so in cooperation with our NAFTA partners. We should also do so with Chile, and Brazil and Argentina, the anchor states of Mercosur. We will also work toward free trade with the smaller nations of Central America and the Caribbean. We must be flexible because one-size-fits-all negotiations are not always the answer. But the ultimate goal will remain constant, free trade from northernmost Canada to the tip of Cape Horn. In the near term, we will renew trade preferences with the Andean nations - enacted in 1991, and set to expire next year.
Source: Associated Press Oct 31, 2000

No trade barriers from Alaska to the tip of Cape Horn
Bush went campaigning in Mexico today, dedicating the World Trade Bridge in Laredo. “In the past there have been walls of divide between Mexico and the US,” Bush said. “We must be committed to raise the bridges of trade & friendship & freedom.” Bush said the opening of the bridge was an example of the growing economic ties between the US and Mexico. In promising to push aggressively for free trade in this hemisphere, Bush said he would tear down trade barriers from Alaska to “the tip of the Cape Horn.”
Source: Jim Yardley, New York Times Apr 24, 2000

Fast Track in west; WTO in east
Bush said he would seek “fast-track” negotiating status from Congress to expand free trade in the Western Hemisphere: “I will work to create an entire hemisphere in free trade,” he said. “I will work to extend the benefits of NAFTA from the northernmost Alaska to the tip of Cape Horn.” He said he wanted to build on NAFTA to bring other countries throughout Latin America Meanwhile, the Bush campaign distributed a policy statement that said he supports admission of China and Taiwan to the WTO.
Source: Kelley Shannon, Associated Press, in L.A. Times Apr 24, 2000

Supports Fast Track; WTO; NAFTA; anti-dumping

* Supports Fast Track negotiating authority for the President
* Called for eliminating trade barriers & tariffs everywhere so the whole world trades in freedom
* Called for strict enforcement of anti-dumping & other unfair trade laws
* Supports expansion of NAFTA throughout the Americas
* Supports China’s & Taiwan’s admission into the WTO
* Supports revising export controls, to tighten control over military technology & ease restrictions on technology already available commercially

Source: GeorgeWBush.com: ‘Issues: Policy Points Overview’ Apr 2, 2000

[IN-dem]

26. Thank you thats all I needed.

[IN-dem]

24. I'm a she :)