Past and present Senate candidates from Montana: on Free Trade


Jon Tester: Tariffs on China harm our industries & drive up costs

Q: Support President Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?

Matt Rosendale (R): Yes. "We've had a trade war going on for decades. now we have a president who said we're not going to tolerate it."

Jon Tester (D): No. "These tariffs are harming our state's top industries by creating market uncertainty & driving up costs."

Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Montana Senate race Oct 9, 2018

Matt Rosendale: Stop tolerating what China has been doing for decades

Q: Support President Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?

Matt Rosendale (R): Yes. "We've had a trade war going on for decades. now we have a president who said we're not going to tolerate it."

Jon Tester (D): No. "These tariffs are harming our state's top industries by creating market uncertainty & driving up costs."

Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Montana Senate race Oct 9, 2018

John Walsh: Don't ship American jobs to China

Montana Senate candidates Steve Daines and John Walsh accuse each other in TV ads of helping to ship American jobs to China, but both sides fail to support their exaggerated claims.

Daines says Walsh "supported shipping American jobs to China," referring to President Obama's economic stimulus. But Walsh wasn't in the Senate at the time and didn't vote on the legislation. A small portion of the stimulus did go to Chinese firms, but Walsh had nothing to do with the award of stimulus contracts.

Walsh says Daines worked to build factories in China "at the same time Daines' company was firing thousands of American workers here." Daines did help Procter & Gamble expand in China in the 1990s, but the company says Daines was not involved in strategic corporate decisions. Moreover, the implication that expansion in China came at the expense of U.S. jobs is unsupported.

Source: FactCheck.org on 2014 Montana Senate race May 22, 2014

Steve Daines: Worked for 6 years bringing U.S. consumer products to China

An ad from the Walsh campaign accuses Daines of "double-speak," boasting about job creation while helping to outsource American jobs overseas: "Daines worked for years in China, helping an American company build factories there, at the same time Daines' company was firing thousands of American workers here."

Independently, both of those claims are more or less accurate. But we think the clear implication is that one caused the other, and that Daines was responsible for it. On both of those scores, clear evidence is lacking.

Daines, then 29, worked for P&G in China from 1991 to 1997 to help expand the company bringing U.S. consumer products into China. And in 1993, P&G announced a plan to "streamline" its operations by closing 30 plants and eliminating 13,000 jobs worldwide--including four plants and 4,000 jobs in the U.S. But did expansion in China come at the expense of American jobs? Walsh campaign officials claim it did. [We rule that there's no support] that Daines was responsible.

Source: FactCheck.org on 2014 Montana Senate race May 22, 2014

John Walsh: On trade mission: Montana is open for business

Walsh spoke toward the end of the trade mission luncheon [in Sydney, Australia. He noted] it would be in America's best interest not to be dependent on foreign oil or to have soldiers be in harm's way because of America's oil dependence on the Middle East.

"I can tell you that we're here today to celebrate the fact that Montana is open for business," Walsh said. "Eastern Montana is the land of opportunity. It is home to the biggest energy boom in America. That's something we can be proud of.

Source: Sydney (Australia) Herald on 2014 Montana Senate debates Nov 9, 2013

Stan Jones: NAFTA leads to American Union as part of one-world Communism

I risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but it’s no longer a theory. What I’m about to say is fact. The secret organizations of the world power elite are no longer secret. They have planned and are now leading us into a one-world Communist government

The combining of national government started with the European Union--that union started with trade agreements; then a common currency, the Euro; & now a European Parliament that is feverishly passing laws that override the laws of the member nations

Now it’s North America’s turn. Building on NAFTA, the Commerce Department is busy drafting laws and regulations for a North American Union, a union of the Canada, America, and Mexico. No treaty has been signed, so Congress has not become not involved However, money from our treasury is now being spent for this effort. We will have a new currency, the Amero; and a new Constitution, modeled on the Soviet Union’s constitution.

Huge amounts of property will be taken in the name of free trade.

Source: 2006 Montana 3-way Senate Debate at MSU Oct 9, 2006

  • The above quotations are from Winners and Losers
    Senate candidates from Montana.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Free Trade.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
Candidates and political leaders on Free Trade:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R)
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 23, 2019