Newt Gingrich on Free Trade Former Republican Representative (GA-6) and Speaker of the House

Mitt Romney's trade & immigration stances compared to Newt's

Mitt vs. Newt on International Issues

• Climate Change
• Oil Drilling
• China Trade
• Self-Deportation
• Immigrant Policy
• Guest Workers
• Official English
• Cuba Policy
• Iranian Sanctions
• Israel/Palestine
• International Diplomacy
• Patriot Act
• Defense Spending
• Sources of Terrorism
• Afghanistan War
• America vs. Socialism

Supported NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and MFN

• In 1993, Gingrich supported NAFTA, and later argued for including Chile into the deal, with the eventual goal of having the entire Western Hemisphere as a free trade zone.
• In 1994, Gingrich supported passage of GATT, which established fast track authority for the president and the WTO.
• In 1998, Gingrich supported MFN status with China. And he supported free trade legislation between the United States and sub-Saharan African nations.
• In 2010, Gingrich called for the creation of "Free Cities," Hong Kong-style free trade zones, developed from scratch according to agreements reached between the US and the "receptive governments" controlling the agreed-upon spots.

Protectionism helps China & India challenge US supremacy

The challenge to American economic supremacy from 1.3 billion Chinese and more than 1.1 billion Indians is vastly greater than anything we have previously seen. India’s embrace of capitalism and China’s bizarre combination of Marxist-Leninist government and free market initiatives will create a future where one-fourth of the world’s markets will be controlled by these countries. Those who advocate economic isolationism and protectionism are advocating a policy that could help China and India surpass the US in economic power in our children’s or grandchildren’s lifetime.

Ask major exporters what they need to compete globally

We also need to rethink America as a job and foreign exchange producer. Historically when we have thought of travel and tourism we have thought of Americans going overseas. Yet the US is a terrific travel destination. We want to increase dramatically the number of visitors coming to the US to spend their currency.

Travel and tourism is the second largest industry in the world yet we still undervalue its potential as a job creator here in the US.

Mutual trade: neither free trade nor protectionism

Gingrich offered a six-point prescription:
1. Base the welfare system on work
2. expand day care--private and public--to accommodate welfare mothers
3. make "mutual trade"--neither free trade nor protectionism--the country's goal
4. privatize many government services; starting with NASA
5. reform the Pentagon, with a move away from all-volunteer standing forces to more emphasis on reserves and the National Guard; and
6. curb cost-of-living increases in social programs such as Social Security.

Compete in world market because we can't retreat from it

We are much better off to have more IBMs and more AT&T's that are able to be everywhere. And we're much better off to have thousands of new, small businesses that compete everywhere a jet airplane goes, and anywhere a fax machine can receive their latest ad.
--L.A.Times, June 17, 1990

We must learn to compete in the world market because we cannot retreat from it. The greatest productivity and the greatest take-home pay are all going to be found by competing in the world market. To retreat from competition is to accept decay. We must be tougher in negotiating with our trading partners, but our goal should be to increase American exports and to create American jobs, not to decrease imports and kill foreign jobs.
--Congressional Record, January 30, 1992

Supported NAFTA & GATT in common with Clinton administration