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Alan Keyes on Free Trade

Republican challenger for IL Senate; previously Candidate for President


Entering WTO gave away part of our sovereignty

Q: What area of international policy would you change immediately? A: Our entry into the WTO. I think we gave away a portion of our sovereignty that we should never have surrendered. It violates the fundamental principle of our way of life: no legislation without representation. I’m not interested in protectionism or withdrawal. But folks ought to be paying a premium price to enter this market, or else giving us something concrete in return that’s of tangible benefit to the American people.
Source: GOP Debate on the Larry King Show Feb 15, 2000

Out of WTO: no legislation without representation

KEYES [to Forbes]: I’m very concerned with the surrender of America’s national sovereignty. Joining the WTO subjects the American people directly to decisions that will be applied without the intervention of elected representatives. Would you join me in a pledge, to withdraw from the WTO?

FORBES: If the WTO can’t get its act together, let it stay on the side & we take direct action in reducing trade barriers with our partners starting with the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, with Ireland & Britain. And we should do the same thing with Australia & other countries in the Pacific Rim. That way we can stop this discrimination against our products and the WTO can go its own way.

KEYES: [The WTO] violates the constitutional principle of no legislation without representation. Will you withdraw us from this unrepresentative body?

FORBES. I’m not going to withdraw us from that body. it’s supposed to be there to help reduce barriers. If it doesn’t, then we bid it goodbye.

Source: (X-ref from Keyes) GOP Debate in Manchester NH Jan 26, 2000

Separate naturalization (legal) from border patrols

Source: Vote-Smart.org 2000 NPAT Jan 13, 2000

Banks and American clout should help farmers

Q: What will you do as president to help farmers get sufficient pay for their work? A: We have to give our farmers access to the kind of capital that they need. We need to get out of this collective business of bargaining and sit down and make these countries understand. If they want access to our markets, they’re going to have to give us an exchange, something that’s of equal value. And the collectivist approach we’ve been taking hasn’t produced that result.
Source: Republican debate in West Columbia, South Carolina Jan 7, 2000

WTO allows dictators to decide our future - US out

Everybody else is busy arguing about whether China should be in the WTO. I look at an organization that is unrepresentative, elected by no one, where dictators and tyrants have the same right to send representatives to make substantive decisions that will affect our jobs & livelihood in a fashion totally contrary to our constitution. The question isn’t whether China should belong to the WTO. The question is whether the US should belong to an organization that violates our constitutional principles.
Source: Des Moines Iowa GOP Debate Dec 13, 1999

WTO is not representative; hence unconstitutional

KEYES [to Bauer]: The WTO is an unrepresentative body based on an illegitimate principle of government; it is not a body that contains entities that are based upon consent. And yet it could make decisions that affect our lives & jobs. Our Constitution says that our representative bodies are supposed to be composed of states based on republican forms of government-consent not dictatorship. How can you support our membership in the WTO without violating our constitutional liberties?

BAUER: I don’t like bureaucrats-they are out of the reach of the people. I don’t like HMO bureaucrats; I don’t like Washington bureaucrats that are trying to run the schools. And I don’t like WTO bureaucrats either. I think that when decisions are made that affect the way we live, that affect our jobs, those decisions ought to be made by people that we can reach, so if we don’t like what they’ve decided, we can get rid of them. And I believe that in the case of the WTO, it’s a system out of control.

Source: (cross-ref. to Bauer) Phoenix Arizona GOP Debate Dec 7, 1999

Tariffs make foreigners share burden of US government

The income tax should be replaced [by] taxes on things we buy and that we pay only when we decide to buy them. By restoring tariffs and duties to their proper role we will also make foreign populations who benefit from access to the US market share the burden of supporting the governmental system that guarantees its existence.
Source: HUMAN EVENTS: The National Conservative Weekly, front page Apr 17, 1998

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Other candidates on Free Trade: Alan Keyes on other issues:
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