CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019: on Free Trade


Andrew Yang: Would not stand in way of fossil fuel exports from US

Q: Would you ban all fossil fuel exports from the United States?

YANG: I think we have to stop subsidizing the industry, but I don't think that includes banning exports. Because if our fossil fuel industry, which is going to be around for some period of time, is competitive and cost competitive enough to export to another country, I wouldn't stand in the way of that.

Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: Climate adjustment fee on imports based on carbon use

I think that we need a climate adjustment fee on products that are imported to the United States. Think about it this way. There's something that takes a lot of carbon to produce. We can't simply export our pollution and say as long as they produce it across the border or somewhere else, then it's OK with us. The answer is, you want to import something here in the United States, we want to know, how much carbon was used to produce that? And let's think about how we have to equalize pric
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

Joe Biden: Use tariffs to get China to pay the price for pollution

Q: How would you try to get China to lower its emissions?

BIDEN: We have to bring around the rest of the world. When we did the Paris accord that they signed onto, it was agreed that we would constantly up the ante. China is exporting coal technology. They're making the environment much, much worse. There has to be a price that they pay if they do that. That's why I would talk about dealing with them in terms of tariffs. But you've got to get the rest of the world in on the deal to do i

Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

Bernie Sanders: Trump's actions on trade destabilizing world economy

What the president is doing is totally irrational, and it is destabilizing the entire world economy. You do not make trade policy by announcing today that you're going to raise tariffs by X-%, and the next day by Y-%, by attacking the person you appointed as head of the Federal Reserve as an enemy of the American people, by denouncing the president of China, who last year you really loved as a great leader. This kind of instability causing very serious harm to the entire world economy.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary Aug 25, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: Americans pay the price for Trump's trade war with China

It's also a fool's errand to think you're going to be able to get China to change the fundamentals of their economic model by poking them in the eye with some tariffs. The president has failed to deliver a deal. In the meantime, we're paying the cost of these tariffs. We're going to see even more in the prices of consumer goods. There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary Aug 18, 2019

Bill de Blasio: Democrats should stand for workers not corporations

If Democrats are complicit with Republicans in passing a NAFTA treaty -- it's got a different name, but it's still NAFTA. It's even worse in some ways. It gives even more power to corporations this time. A lot of people in this country are going to look at that and say, I can't tell one party from the other. And they're not going to buy into a Democratic Party that seems to be once again just caving to the big corporations, rather than standing up for working people.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates Jul 14, 2019

Bernie Sanders: Trade policies should focus on U.S. jobs & lifting the poor

You can't have a trade policy based on tweets. What you need is comprehensive trade policies which represents the working people of this country, and not just the CEOs of large corporations.

Do we need to change our trade policies, so that we protect jobs in America? Yes. Do we need to work with other countries to lift up the poorest people around the world? Yes, we do. But Trump's erratic threats and trade policies are not the way to go.

Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series Jun 9, 2019

Steve Bullock: Work with other nations to deal with China's practices

We need to be tough on China. Let's not kid ourselves on that. But 25% tariffs on all Chinese products, every American family will be hit by $2,000 in one year in increased prices. America first has become America alone. We can't do it that way. We need to bring our allies together and some of our adversaries. We need to actually enforce through the World Trade Organization, when appropriate, as well.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls May 19, 2019

Kamala Harris: Trade agreements should address climate change

I would not have voted for NAFTA, and because I believe that we can do a better job to protect American workers. I also believe that we need to do a better job in terms of thinking about the priorities that should be more apparent now perhaps than they were, which are issues like the climate crisis, and what we need to do to build into these trade agreements.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls May 12, 2019

  • The above quotations are from CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019
    (Jake Tapper and Dana Bash interviewing candidates for 2019-2020 races).
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Free Trade.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John Kasich on Free Trade.
  • Click here for more quotes by Cory Booker on Free Trade.
2020 Presidential contenders on Free Trade:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN)
Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020