Breitbart has a story out that Ted Cruz has suddenly joined the populist revolt against unfair trade agreements. The comments are brutal, but well deserved since Ted’s record is dismal. Here’s me too Ted’s new stance:
Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pledges to “stand up for fair trade” in a new state-wide Wisconsin ad hitting on international trade deals, a signature issue of front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign.
“Free trade” is generally seen as a globalist policy in which restrictions on imports and exports are kept to an absolute minimum. “Fair traders,” on the other hand, argue that purely free trade can have negative consequences for the citizens of a particular country, especially when it comes to wages and employment opportunities for the lower and middle classes. They recommend that sovereign nations negotiate and implement trade deals that prioritize their own people first. This debate has been a centerpiece of the 2016 primary season as both political parties have seen populist factions revolt against their respective establishments over what they view as unfair free trade deals.”
Flashback
“I voted in favor of fast track because I support free trade. I think free trade benefits America. And if you support free trade, the only way history has shown free trade agreements get negotiated is through fast track.” – Ted Cruz – June, 2015
Let’s take a look at Ted’s past actions and you will see that CRUZ CANNOT BE TRUSTED
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)voted to fast-track the TPP. Prior to casting his vote for Obama’s trade deal, Cruz penned an op-ed with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the Wall Street Journal endorsing Obama’s trade agenda and helping give needed momentum for Obama’s new trade powers to be successfully enacted.
Cruz dismissed Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)’s concerns about the deal’s erosion of U.S. sovereignty — describing Sessions’s assertions as “not accurate… It is simply false to say this would create some trans-national body that could change U.S. law,” Cruz said, even though it has since been revealed that Sessions was indeed correct, and Article 27.1 of the deal will ensnare the U.S. in a global governing commission similar to a nascent European Union.
Cruz’s vocal support of giving Obama fast-track trade authority gave establishment Republicans such as South Carolina’s Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — both of whom have endorsed Sen. Rubio — cover to support ceding Congressional authority to Obama as well.
For instance, in an op-ed explaining why they were voting to give Obama fast-track trade authority, Gowdy and Scott invoked Cruz’s name to suggest that supporting Obama’s trade agenda is somehow conservative: “Trade Promotion Authority is not about empowering any president… That’s why strong conservatives such as Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, George Will, Charles Krauthammer and the two of us support it.”
However after vocally campaigning for Obamatrade, as the presidential campaign was heating up, Cruz eventually reversed his vote. (But not before the damage was done read this). He now says he will not support TPP “in its current form” — leaving the door open to supporting it in the future.
Trump has similarly distinguished himself from his GOP opponents by pleading to crack down on currency manipulation. By contrast, Cruz and Rubio have voted to continue to allow the illicit trading practice. Last year, both Cruz and Rubio voted down an amendment spearheaded by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) — and supported by Jeff Sessions — to address currency manipulation.
In the past, Cruz has said that he opposes cracking down on currency manipulation because it is a “protectionist” argument. In a 2011 interview, Cruz was pressed about expressed unwillingness to support a modest measure that would crack down on currency manipulation. Cruz said in response, “Look, protectionist arguments, particularly when you have unemployment, they resonate because people are out of a job and they are ticked off.”
Cruz said, “I understand the concerns about China and I think we need to be vigorous in dealing with China, but I think it is a mistake to try to start a trade war with them.”
Yet businessman Mitt Romney, who had a background in steel, explained that “I have no interest in starting a trade war with China, but I cannot accept our current trade surrender.” Nucor Steel Executive Dan DiMicco made a similar argument — describing the position articulated by Cruz as “unilateral trade disarmament and enablement of foreign mercantilism.”
And as Donald Trump explained in his response to the Sessions Test:
TPP allows foreign countries to cheat by manipulating their currency, making it impossible for American companies to fairly compete. Yet other candidates in this race have voted in favor of the currency manipulation that is killing our middle class. What our incompetent leaders don’t understand is that the United States holds all the cards. Other countries need access to our markets. Yet we refuse to use that leverage, and we negotiate one terrible job-killing deal after another. We buy from other countries, but they refuse to buy from us. Under my Administration, we are bringing these jobs back to America. No more one-sided deals.”
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