How do Democrats and Republicans differ on trade issues?
There is a split within each of the main political parties on free trade. Traditional Democrats, guided in part by the interests of organized labor, tend to oppose free trade as a threat to the interests of domestic workers. “New Democrats” believe that trade encourages economic growth thus rewarding ordinary Americans with increased goods and services and better employment opportunities. Former President Clinton, together with past Presidential candidates Gore and Kerry, supported free trade. Spurred by agricultural interests and multinational corporations, the majority of Republicans also support free trade but there remains a distinct minority who resist the globalism of the American economy as a threat to national autonomy. The divide within each party is illustrated in Senate votes on NAFTA and on “fast track” trade authority. Are WTO-sponsored free trade policies and World Bank/IMF “structural adjustment” loans undermining the development of poor countries? Poverty in the “third
