State of Ohio Archives: on Free Trade
Bernie Moreno:
Only support trade agreements that put American jobs first
We need to promote trade agreements that are both free and fair so that Ohio's companies and workers can benefit from selling their great products all over the world. That is why we need to be vigilant to ensure a level-playing field for
American companies and workers. I will only support trade agreements that put American jobs first, especially Ohio jobs.
Source: 2022 Ohio Senate campaign website BernieMoreno.com
Dec 24, 2021
Eric Deaton:
Free trade agreements have destroyed our economy
Q: Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? A: No. These free trade agreements have destroyed our jobs and economy. They have allowed for the export of our innovation & technology and will continue to destroy our nation.
We need fair trade agreements, not free trade agreements. We must start protecting our native jobs, intellectual property and our manufacturing jobs.
Source: Ohio Congressional 2010 Political Courage Test
Aug 11, 2010
JD Vance:
U.S. companies struggle with unfair competition from China
JD moved back to Ohio in 2017. He has seen firsthand livelihoods devastated by job loss, addiction, economic turmoil and so much more. He stood up a business in Cincinnati and has focused on growing companies that create well-paying jobs.
His business experience taught him firsthand that so many American companies struggle with unfair competition from China and from their own government, which often rewards multinational technology firms over Ohio small businesses.
Source: 2021 Ohio Senate campaign website JDVance.com
Jul 4, 2021
Jim Renacci:
Seeks balance between tariffs, free trade & fair trade
Q: Support President Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Sherrod Brown (D): Yes, for protecting steelworkers, but need long-term strategy. Also tax auto company foreign profits to give $3,500 discount to US-made cars.
Jim Renacci (R): Yes, but concerned about the negative impact on farmers. Seeks a "balance between free trade & fair trade."
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Ohio Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Josh Mandel:
Criticizes opponent for helping move jobs to China
Mandel said in a news release on March 1, "Make no mistake--Sherrod Brown is one of the main D.C. politicians responsible for Ohio jobs moving to China."Can Mandel back up his claim?
A Mandel campaign spokesman said in an email, "The federal stimulus bill in 2009, on which Brown voted yes, led to tens of millions in taxpayer money being spent on wind turbine parts made in China."
But the wind project with the
Chinese connection never got completed. Since companies could only collect money after completion and the program expired last year, it is safe to say that the amount that went to China was "zero."
We find Mandel's claim was overly broad; dead wrong in the case of his most concrete backup examples and, overall, just not accurate.
Source: PolitiFact.org fact-check 2012 Ohio Senate race
Mar 1, 2012
Lee Fisher:
More stringent policy: discourage companies moving overseas
Fisher sought to tie his opponent to the Bush administration, reminding viewers of Portman's service as budget director and US trade representative. Under Portman's watch, Fisher said, the federal deficit ballooned and Ohio lost 100,000 jobs to China. "
It's time that Congressman Portman took responsibility for his role in helping cause this recession," Fisher said. Portman dismissed the jab as a partisan attack and urged Fisher to answer for the 400,000 Ohio jobs that have disappeared over the past
4 years during Fisher's tenure as state development director.Fisher called for more stringent trade and tax policies to discourage companies from moving overseas. Portman's economic solutions included more favorable tax and regulatory policies to
encourage business development, more effective workforce training programs, and undefined spending cuts to lower the deficit. He said his health-care plan would include provisions to restrict malpractice lawsuits, a GOP priority left out of the new law.
Source: Washington Post coverage of 2010 Ohio Senate debate
Oct 5, 2010
Lee Fisher:
Trade agreements should be fair and enforced
On trade, Portman favors passing more trade agreements to increase Ohio exports and encouraging the Obama administration to get tough on China over currency manipulation.
Fisher insists that trade agreements should be fair and accused Portman of not doing enough to enforce existing trade agreements when he served as President George W. Bush's trade representative.
Source: Dayton Daily News coverage of 2010 Ohio Senate debate
Oct 13, 2010
Matt Dolan:
Trade deals must protect workers, American innovation
I will oppose any trade deal that does not protect our workers, manufacturing and American innovation.
Long before communist China unleashed a virus on the world, they were cheating on trade, stealing our intellectual property and wreaking havoc on our foreign policy aims.
Source: 2021 OH Senate campaign website DolanForOhio.com
Sep 21, 2021
Mike DeWine:
Tariffs against dumping steel, & give fines to US companies
Q: Would you repeal NAFTA? BROWN: I would renegotiate NAFTA, as I would renegotiate PNTR with China. Mike DeWine has supported every time these trade agreements that give incentives to the big corporations.
DeWINE: I'll give you an example on trade.
Steel. When these steel companies were importing steel, dumping steel in the US from China & other countries, we got the president to put tariffs on. It made a big difference. Another example. Sen. Byrd and I worked together on the Byrd Amendment, which
says is that when a foreign country dumps into the US, instead of putting that money into the US Treasury when we fine them, we give that money to the US companies. That's brought back $315 million just for Ohio companies. But the bigger issue is,
Sherrod thinks you can build a wall around the state of Ohio. [Yet] when it comes time to protect Ohio industries, he's not there.
BROWN: All of us were involved in [the steel issue]. Neither of those laws that he talks about are still in effect.
Source: 2006 Ohio Senate Debate on NBC Meet the Press
Oct 1, 2006
Mike Gibbons:
Support & expand free trade
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Support & expand free trade"?
A: Support
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Ohio Senate candidate
Apr 24, 2018
Morgan Harper:
Don't let tech companies limit liability in trade deals
A coalition of internet accountability groups is warning the Biden administration against including liability protections for tech companies in future trade agreements, saying that could hamstring efforts to hold platforms responsible for user content.
A ratified trade deal could bake in -- and export -- increasingly controversial legal protections for internet companies, said Morgan Harper, a policy director at the American Economic Liberties Project, which also signed the letter.
Source: Bloomberg Law on 2022 Ohio Senate race
May 27, 2021
Rob Portman:
Pass more trade agreements to increase Ohio exports
On trade, Portman favors passing more trade agreements to increase Ohio exports and encouraging the Obama administration to get tough on China over currency manipulation.
Fisher insists that trade agreements should be fair and accused Portman of not doing enough to enforce existing trade agreements when he served as President George W. Bush's trade representative.
Source: Dayton Daily News coverage of 2010 Ohio Senate debate
Oct 13, 2010
Rob Portman:
Served as trade representative under Pres. George W. Bush
The candidates challenged each other over jobs and taxes and who is best able to help revive Ohio's battered economy.Fisher said Portman has backed trade policies that have sent
Ohio jobs overseas. He repeatedly sought to tie Portman to economic policies of former President George W. Bush, in whose administration Portman served as trade representative.
Portman said Fisher's proposals would mean job-killing higher taxes. "You can't continue to raise taxes," he said.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland implemented a tax cut in
2005 that resulted in state income taxes that are 16.8 percent less than they were in 2004, said a spokeswoman for Fisher, Ohio's lieutenant governor [under Strickland].
Source: Business Week coverage of 2010 Ohio Senate debate
Oct 8, 2010
Rob Portman:
Negotiated fast-track under Bush; but slowing it under Obama
Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR] has become the White House's chief congressional ally on free trade, helping Pres. Obama and the US Trade Representative push for a bill to streamline the passage of trade deals, alienating liberal activists. Wyden is even up
against some key Republicans, including former US Trade Representative Rob Portman, who was once in charge of negotiating such treaties under Pres. Bush. Now a senator from Ohio, he's teamed up with Sen. Chuck Schumer [D-NY] to put fast track on a slower
track by requiring treaties to include enforceable prohibitions against countries' suppressing their currencies to gain a competitive advantage--a move the Treasury Secretary warned in a letter would "likely derail" a Pacific trade deal. Steelmakers and
automakers favor the Portman amendment, which he says he'll bring to the floor after it failed in committee. "It's about how to say with a straight face to the people who we're hired by, 'This is going to be good for you,'?" Portman said.
Source: Bloomberg News coverage of 2016 Ohio Senate race
May 2, 2015
Rob Portman:
Push TPP to remove limits on US poultry exports
Portman joined a bipartisan group of 11 senators wrote a letter to the TPP negotiators on Jan. 15, 2014: "We are concerned about Canada's program that severely limits U.S. chicken exports. Despite ratification of NAFTA, Canada has continued to impose
restrictions on imports of US chicken products. We urge you to work to address this long-standing, unjustified issue during the TPP negotiations, and to fully engage the other eleven participating countries to create true free trade for US poultry."
Source: 2016 Ohio Senate race: Letter from 11 Senators on TPP
Jul 4, 2016
Ron Wyden:
Key supporter of fast-track trade-promotion authority
Disapproval trails Ron Wyden these days. Over the past few months, he's become the White House's chief congressional ally on free trade, helping President Obama and the US Trade Representative push for a bill to streamline the passage of trade deals.
That's alienated liberal activists in Oregon, his home state, who show up at the senator's public events flying a 30-foot-long blimp that says, "Ron Wyden: It's up to you. Don't betray us!"In the Senate, [many Democrats] oppose giving the president
"fast-track" trade-promotion authority, which limits Congress's ability to modify trade agreements the administration negotiates with foreign governments. "The answer is not only no, but hell no," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said.
His advice to Wyden: "Slow this thing down a little bit."
The fast-track bill would let Congress instruct negotiators what it wants out of a trade deal, but then stop lawmakers from tacking on any amendments when presented with the treaty for approval.
Source: Bloomberg News coverage of 2016 Ohio Senate race
May 2, 2015
Sherrod Brown:
Supports fair trade; opposes exporting jobs
Q: Would you repeal NAFTA? BROWN: I would renegotiate NAFTA, as I would renegotiate PNTR with China. We've lost so many small businesses, as these big companies outsource. And Mike DeWine has supported every time these trade agreements that give
incentives to the big corporations.
DeWINE: When steel companies were dumping steel, we got tariffs. When a foreign country dumps into the US, we give the fine to the US companies. When it comes time to protect Ohio industries, he's not there.
BROWN
All of us were involved in [the steel issue]. The problem is, those tariffs to protect the steel industry, they didn't last very long. Neither of those laws that he talks about are still in effect. But I want to see more trade. I just don't want one-way
free trade where our biggest export is jobs to Mexico & China. I want fair trade, with more exports, not this free trade that causes the kind of job loss that we're seeing. We simply have abandoned the middle class when we passed these trade agreements.
Source: 2006 Ohio Senate Debate on NBC Meet the Press
Oct 1, 2006
Sherrod Brown:
Trade agreements have sold out the middle class
When asked about voting for bipartisan foreign trade agreements, Brown said he takes "a back seat to no one when it comes to bipartisanship.""These trade agreements clearly have sold out the middle class. Ten years ago, we had a
$1 billion trade deficit with China on auto parts. Today it's $10 billion," he said. "Now we have a new steel mill in Youngstown, more steel jobs in Cleveland and in Lorain, and more aluminum jobs in Heath, Ohio, and Sidney, Ohio."
Mandel countered Brown's claim of bipartisanship. "I need to correct your first comment. You take a back seat to everyone when it comes to bipartisanship," he said. "Since Sherrod Brown's gone to Washington, our trade cap with
China has grown 16 times greater. One out of every four kids living in Ohio is in poverty. That is a record of failure."
Source: Cleveland Jewish News on 2012 Ohio Senate debate
Oct 15, 2012
Sherrod Brown:
Longtime critic of NAFTA; re-negotiate to help Ohio workers
Ohio Republicans and Democrats reacted with cautious optimism to a tentative agreement to update a trade pact between the United States and Mexico, an accord that could trigger more auto production in both countries. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio called
the announcement an "important step forward.""We still need to review the text of the tentative agreement with Mexico, but this is an important step forward," said Brown. "We still have a lot of work to do to bring
Canada on board and write the legislation needed to make any deal a reality, and I will keep working to make sure every detail is right for Ohio workers," said Brown, a longtime critic of NAFTA.
Senate Republican candidate Jim Renacci, who is
opposing Brown in the November election, praised Trump for "following through with yet another promise by delivering a fairer and more reciprocal trading relationship with Mexico."
Source: The Columbus Dispatch on 2018 Ohio Senate race
Aug 27, 2018
Sherrod Brown:
Tax auto company foreign profits; then discounts in US
Q: Support President Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Sherrod Brown (D): Yes, for protecting steelworkers, but need long-term strategy. Also tax auto company foreign profits to give $3,500 discount to US-made cars.
Jim Renacci (R): Yes, but concerned about the negative impact on farmers. Seeks a "balance between free trade & fair trade."
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Ohio Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
JD Vance:
Raise taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas
Taxes: Should corporations and wealthier individuals pay more or less taxes?- Tim Ryan (D): More. Opposed the $1.5 trillion 2017 tax bill, which cut corporate tax rates and top-bracket income taxes.
Increase taxes on billionaires while increasing the child tax credit for working families. "A tax system that lets the super-rich off the hook while working families are struggling just to stay afloat is a system that's broken."
-
J.D. Vance (R): Mixed on corporations, less for individuals. "Let's cut the taxes of the companies that invest in our country.
But... raise taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas and use their money to fund anti-American radical movements." Calls Ryan's push for middle class tax cuts "a gimmick," criticizes his opposing 2017 tax cuts.
Source: Guides.vote candidate survey on 2022 Ohio Senate race
Nov 1, 2022
Amy Acton:
Reckless trade wars cause chaos with tariffs raising costs
[On tariffs]: "Our leaders should be solving problems not creating them," she said in an email. "Ohioans across the state who are struggling with the cost of living shouldn't have to worry about our President starting reckless trade wars and causing
chaos with tariffs that raise costs and make our lives even harder. We need a real plan to lower costs and raise wages that starts with listening to local communities--not simply picking fights to fake toughness.
Source: Ohio Capital Journal, "Tariffs," on 2026 Ohio Governor race
Apr 9, 2025
Jon Husted:
The message to manufacturers is 'Make it in America'
[On tariffs]: "This is complicated. But it's an important issue for America. We need to get this right," Husted said. "The message to the American manufacturer is 'Make it in America.' You won't face these tariffs. For the American consumer,
they're going to have to navigate that question--who is making it in America? That price will probably be lower than the ones that make it overseas if the tariffs are in place."
Source: WLWT News-5 on 2026 Ohio Senate race
Mar 28, 2025
Sherrod Brown:
I've seen tariffs can work if they're well thought through
[On trade policy]: "I've supported tariffs to help steel in Ohio, to help washing machines in Ohio. I've seen tariffs can work if they're well thought through," Brown told News 5 this week. "I've seen tariffs can work if
they're well thought through, they're aimed at countries that cheat. You don't need tariffs on Canada, you don't need tariffs on France or Germany," he said. "You go after countries that cheat."
Source: News5Cleveland on 2026 Ohio Senate race
May 2, 2025
Page last updated: Feb 07, 2026