OBAMATRADE

WHICH WILL IT BE, GOP? PATRIOTISM OR GLOBALISM?

Exclusive: Curtis Ellis sees Congress' votes on NAFTA 2.0 coinciding with 2018 polls

Donald J. Trump made opposition to free trade a potent instrument for vanquishing his foes and capturing the White House in 2016.

Candidate Trump thundered against NAFTA (the North American Free Trade agreement) and vowed to scrap TPP, the TransPacific Partnership, aka Obamatrade. Blue collar Democrats deserted their party in droves, marched beneath his ensign, and the Blue Wall crumbled.

Trump transformed what most dismissed as a leaden non-issue into a golden populist-nationalist weapon with dragon-slaying powers.

If you liked that movie, you’ll love the sequel.

The Wall Street Journal reports, “Delayed NAFTA Talks to Seep Into Political Races Next Year in U.S.”​

We know how that will end.

On taking office, President Trump killed TPP. Then he told Mexico and Canada we would throw NAFTA into the grave alongside Obamatrade if they wouldn’t renegotiate the pact.

The administration set out its demands for a NAFTA 2.0 that benefits American workers:

Automobiles made in Mexico must have a higher percentage of parts made in America in order to qualify for preferential tariff rates when imported into the U.S.

The international tribunals that currently allow foreign companies to do an end-run around U.S. courts and sue American taxpayers for damages and even overturn our laws would be effectively ended.

Buy American provisions must be strengthened so our workers and businesses are first in line when the government spends tax dollars to purchase goods and services.

Our trade negotiators are also taking aim on Canada’s bad habit of subsidizing its industries, including lumber, dairy, aviation and pharmaceuticals.

Regarding pharmaceuticals, Bernie Sanders Democrats have long championed “importing cheaper drugs from Canada.” It’s worth noting those drugs are cheaper because of Canadian government price supports. If Democrats have their way, it would have the effect of injecting cheap opiates directly into American communities destroyed by de-industrialization and addiction.

Finally, the Trump administration is proposing a sunset clause in NAFTA 2.0. No business signs a contract whose terms extend into perpetuity, but that’s exactly what Washington has done with trade agreements. President Trump says no more. Like any business contract, the new agreement would be regularly revisited and renegotiated every five years.

The Canadians and the Mexicans rejected the American proposals out of hand.

The Trump administration responded by calling a time out on further negotiations. That pushes the talks into next year.

The new timeline means Congress will be voting on NAFTA just days before the 2018 midterm elections.

The last election cycle proved there is no more potent political toxin than free trade deals.

The agreement’s globalist supporters had hoped to sneak Obamatrade through Congress in 2015. A populist nationalist uprising stalled it, and trade became a central issue in the presidential campaign.

Like Banquo’s ghost, it will come back to haunt the Washington pols.

The WSJ reports, “The issue could put Republicans in the position of having to make a complicated choice between free-trade policy backed by the [globalist] Chamber of Commerce … and Mr. Trump’s ‘America first’ policy, analysts say. Former White House aide Steve Bannon, a leading skeptic of existing U.S. trade agreements, has vowed to back alternatives to the traditional Republicans running for re-election to the Senate next year.”

Those running in 2018 must choose between economic patriotism or corporate globalism, higher wages or cheaper opiates, working Americans or elite donors

Candidates will have to answer the question put to the miners of bloody Harlan County Kentucky in 1931: “Which side are you on, boys?”

The American people want to know.

http://www.wnd.com/2017/10/which-will-it-be-gop-patriotism-or-globalism/