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Lee Fisher on Free Trade

 


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

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

Make sure trade agreements export Ohio goods, not Ohio jobs

Lee has real experience trying to make foreign relations work to improve Ohio's economy. As Ohio's Director of Development, Lee oversaw 14 overseas offices tasked with creating export markets for Ohio products and bringing jobs to Ohio from other countries. Lee has met extensively with international business leaders to convince them to invest and reinvest in Ohio. He led an international trade mission on Ohio's behalf to Japan, and traveled to Russia to negotiate with one of the world's largest steel companies to invest in Ohio. Those discussions are continuing today. Lee's experience has made it clear that while international trade can benefit Ohio, we must make sure trade agreements export Ohio goods, not Ohio jobs.
Source: Campaign website, www.fisherforohio.com, "Issues" Dec 25, 2009

Other candidates on Free Trade: Lee Fisher on other issues:
OH Gubernatorial:
John Kasich
OH Senatorial:
Rob Portman
Sherrod Brown

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Page last updated: Nov 27, 2010