Swapping Bush Trade Policies for Romney's A Bad Deal for America

Smooth talking Mitt Romney today unveiled a new trade policy that raises more questions than it answers, but does leave one point perfectly clear: electing Romney would mean trading one Bush Republican for another. Desperate to hide his dismal record as Massachusetts governor, Romney echoed President Bush's request that he be given fast track authority to negotiate trade deals with countries like Peru, Panama and Colombia. Romney failed to say, however, if he would negotiate terms that would stem the tide of manufacturing jobs moving overseas.

Under the Bush Administration's failed leadership, states like Michigan and South Carolina have lost thousands of jobs. Michigan's economy has lost 337,900 jobs since 2000, including 235,400 manufacturing jobs, while South Carolina has lost 85,500 manufacturing jobs on President Bush's watch. [Joint Economic Committee Reports, 9/7/07] In Romney's own state of Massachusetts, 10,000 jobs were lost on his watch. [Boston Herald, 2/21/07]

Romney also offered smooth talk on how opening international markets would boost Iowa agriculture, but avoided taking a stand on whether he supports opening Cuba's market to Iowa's corn, grain, and dairy producers, as Iowa's Republican Secretary of Agriculture has proposed. [Agri News, 10/23/07] Finally, Romney said he supported the Doha Round of trade negotiations, but refused to say how he would end the current diplomatic impasse over whether to cut farm subsidies to American farmers. [AP, 11/01/07] Earlier this year, Romney flip-flopped on farm subsidies, telling an Iowa radio host that he supports them even though he supported slashing subsidies and "virtually eliminating" the Department of Agriculture during his 1994 Senate campaign. [Sioux City Journal, 6/28/07]

"Smooth talking Mitt Romney is in for a big surprise if he thinks the American people are looking to trade one Bush Republican for another next year," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "President Bush's failed trade and economic policies have hurt America's working families and we simply cannot afford four years of more of Bush Republicans exporting good jobs."