Republicans want to act like they had nothing to do with NAFTA. (U.S. Sen. Joni) Ernst quotes a farmer saying “Why wasn’t this done 30 years ago?” referring to Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs.
The history of NAFTA is quite long and interesting. Researching the facts, we found the following: NAFTA history began with Ronald Reagan in 1984 when Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 which clarified the conditions under which unfair trade cases can be pursued. Next came the NAFTA bill by George H.W. Bush who signed the initial version of the NAFTA bill in December 1992 before it was submitted to Congress for ratification and after Bush lost to Bill Clinton.
With the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, the labor movement hoped that a Democrat president would veto the NAFTA bill initiated by the Republican Party. But the labor movement was very disappointed when Clinton abandoned his base in the labor movement and instead calculated that the NAFTA bill could strengthen this presidential credentials.
Remember when corporations were filling the airwaves with their “we can’t compete due to labor’s high wages?” Well, fellow citizens got what they wanted. The labor movement was under attack to benefit the rich who did not want union representations for their workers to ensure fair wages and working conditions. It is surprising that the Republican Party didn’t put children back in the workforce — guess they shipped that guilt overseas.
Organized labor supported “free trade” but wanted “fair trade.” Any time organized labor brought up the issue of tariffs on goods coming into this country, the Republicans would scream “protectionism!” Now 30 years later when decent paying jobs with benefits are gone and shipped overseas, the Republican Party and their “think tanks” want to act like they are shocked.
Just curious, has anyone heard what corporations are going to pay in wages and benefits for all these jobs the Republican Party are alleging to bring back to the United States? And how many of the jobs that Donald Trump and his daughter have been brought from overseas to the United States? The answer? Zero!
Anyway, it was a good question: “Why wasn’t NAFTA stopped 30 years ago?”
Max and Kathy Tipton
Newton