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Marco Rubio on Free TradeRepublican Florida Senator |
Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): We passed a bill that says, if something is made in a factory in that part of China, we are going to presume it's made by slave labor, and not allow it into the country, unless companies can prove that that's not the case. I think there are many American companies, like Nike and others, that have definitely benefited from the supply chain that's located in that part of the world. We saw the lobbying efforts of Apple, of Nike and others arguing that this would raise the costs for consumers. But, ultimately, it's slave labor.
UN experts have estimated that more than one million people, mainly Muslim Uighurs, have been imprisoned in recent years in a vast system of camps in Xinjiang. The US and many rights groups have called it "genocide".
"It is a horrifying human rights situation, fully sanctioned--as we now know--by the Communist Party of China," Marco Rubio, the lead Republican sponsor of the bill, said. China has rejected allegations of abuse in Xinjiang, accusing countries of launching "slanderous attacks" about conditions for Uighurs. An independent UK-based tribunal ruled last week the Chinese government had committed genocide, crimes against humanity and torture of Uighurs and other minorities. [See S.65 for details of bill]
RUBIO: About the trade war -- I don't understand, because your ties and the clothes are made in Mexico and in China. You're going to start a trade war against your own ties and suits. Why don't you make them in America?
TRUMP: That's wrong. The 45% would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get. If they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China.
Q: So you're open to a tariff?
TRUMP: I'm totally open to a tariff. Hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade.
RUBIO: We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff: it gets passed on in the price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger. It begins with tax reform. It continues with regulatory reform.
Breitbart News reached out to Rubio's office and asked if the Senator continues to stand by his April and May comments in which he expressed his support for TPP. Breitbart News asked if Sen. Rubio was "prepared to reverse his longstanding support of TPP and oppose the deal." In response, Rubio's spokesman directed Breitbart News to an interview with CNBC, in which Rubio expressed his "very positive" feelings about ObamaTrade in the days after Obama reached the agreement.
"This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie, the lie and the illusion that more commerce and access to money and goods will translate to political freedom for the Cuban people," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), whose parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1950s. "All this is going to do is give the Castro regime, which controls every aspect of Cuban life, the opportunity to manipulate these changes to perpetuate itself in power."
The bulk of the criticism suggested that the conservative base remains firmly committed to keeping Cuban relations in the deep freeze where they have been for half a century. That position is increasingly at odds with the view of the electorate at large.
Heritage Action summary of vote# S206: The Senate voted to table (kill) an amendment by Sen. Kirk to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Sen. Kirk recommends voting NO. Heritage Foundation recommends voting YES because the `Ex-Im Bank is little more than a $140 billion slush fund for corporate welfare.`
OnTheIssues explanation: Voting NO would allow a vote on reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. Voting YES would kill the bill for reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank.
Cato Institute reason for voting YES to kill the bill:The Ex-Im Bank`s reauthorization buffs contend that Ex-Im fills a void left by private sector lenders unwilling to provide financing for certain transactions. Ex-Im`s critics [say that] by effectively superseding risk-based decision-making with the choices of a handful of bureaucrats pursuing political objectives, Ex-Im risks taxpayer dollars. It turns out that for nearly every Ex-Im financing authorization that might advance the fortunes of a single US company, there is at least one US industry whose firms are put at a competitive disadvantage. These are the unseen consequences of Ex-Im`s mission.
Summary from Congressional Record and Wikipedia:Vote to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and establish the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Rather than a wholly new agreement, it has been characterized as `NAFTA 2.0`; final terms were negotiated on September 30, 2018 by each country. The agreement is scheduled to come into effect on July 1, 2020.
Case for voting YES by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL); (Dec. 19, 2019)The USMCA includes stronger protections for American workers and enforceable labor standards, as well as environmental protections. It eliminates the Trump Administration`s threat that the US could walk away entirely from the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, which would devastate US jobs and our economy.
Case for voting NO by Jared Huffman (D-CA); (Dec. 19, 2019) Democratic negotiators did a lot to improve Donald Trump`s weak trade deal, especially in terms of labor standards and enforcement, but the final deal did not reach the high standard that I had hoped for. The NAFTA renegotiations were a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lift labor and environmental standards across the continent--to lock in serious climate commitments with two of our largest trading partners and dramatically improve labor standards and enforcement to slow the rise of outsourcing.
Legislative outcome: Bill Passed (Senate) (89-10-1) - Jan. 16, 2020; bill Passed (House) (385-41-5) - Dec. 19, 2019; signed at the G20 Summit simultaneously by President Trump, Mexican President Enrique Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Nov. 30, 2018
Ratings by USA*Engage indicate support for trade engagement or trade sanctions. The organization`s self-description: `USA*Engage is concerned about the proliferation of unilateral foreign policy sanctions at the federal, state and local level. Despite the fact that broad trade-based unilateral sanctions rarely achieve our foreign policy goals, they continue to have political appeal. Unilateral sanctions give the impression that the United States is `doing something,` while American workers, farmers and businesses absorb the costs.`
VoteMatch scoring for the USA*Engage ratings is as follows :