A comparision of McCain and Obama on trade

WASHINGTON — With a staggering $4 trillion in two-way commerce last year, the United States is the largest world trading power in history.

The country imports far more than it exports, though. The gap was $700.3 billion last year. It's on track to be about this same for 2008.

For nearly a generation now, Democrats and Republicans alike have largely scorned tariffs, quotas and other measures that critics regard as protectionist. Instead, both parties have tried to expand overseas markets to make way for increased U.S. exports.

In a sour economy, though, trade issues heat up, as workers blame globalization for the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas.

In the presidential campaigns, the issue is particularly pointed in the key battleground state of Ohio, which has lost nearly a quarter of its manufacturing jobs over the past eight years.

Here is how the trade positions of presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., compare.

Obama

Key Positions

- Use trade as a vehicle for requiring foreign countries to improve worker treatment and labor practices in exchange for exporting goods to this country on favorable terms

- Press the World Trade Organization to enforce global trade rules that protect the U.S. economy from subsidized competition and unfair practices overseas

- Expand assistance to help educate and retrain workers subject to low-cost competition from abroad

- Amend the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which wedded the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico, claiming it's unfair to U.S. and Mexican workers

- Urge China to increase the value of its currency against the dollar, as a way to help U.S. companies compete with low-cost imports from China

Cost

There are no reliable cost estimates for Obama's trade policies

Record

In four years in the Senate, Obama has a mixed record on trade, according to the non-partisan Cato Institute, a libertarian Washington think tank that analyzed his record on 11 key votes and found he has opposed trade barriers 36 percent of the time. He voted against a free trade agreement with Central American nations, asserting that it did not include sufficient labor and environmental benchmarks. Voted in favor of free trade agreement with Oman. Was not in the Senate for the key 1993 vote that ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement, but now calls the accord a mistake that has cost the country a million jobs.

In His Words

"I believe in free trade. But we have to acknowledge that for millions of Americans, its burdens outweigh its benefits. ././. If we expect working Americans to accept and even embrace free trade, then I believe we all have a stake in embracing policies that will provide them with a sense of security."

McCain

Key Positions

- End fees - called tariffs - on most agricultural imports and slash federal subsidies for American farmers, in exchange for expanding overseas markets for U.S. farm goods

- Press to ratify free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea, currently stalled in the Senate

- Expand assistance to help educate and retrain workers subject to low-cost competition from abroad

- Reduce corporate tax rates, which he claims disadvantage U.S.-based companies in the global marketplace

- Opposes attaching environmental benchmarks or human rights standards to trade accords, saying they should instead be based on market access equity

Cost

There are no reliable cost estimates for McCain's trade policies

Record

In 22 years in the Senate, McCain has a solidly pro-trade record, according to the non-partisan Cato Institute, a libertarian Washington think tank that analyzed his record on 40 key votes and found he has opposed trade barriers 88 percent of the time. He voted in favor of the landmark North American Free Trade Agreement, which wedded the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico. He has voted for free trade agreements with Chile (2003), Central American nations (2005), and Oman (2006)

In His Words

"It sounds like a lot of fun to bash China and others, but free trade has been the engine of our economy. ././. We need to help millions of workers who have lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away."