It seems very unlikely that we will ever see a Kucinich Presidency, but nonetheless I found this statement of Kucinich's thoughts on trade interesting:
The first act in office is going to be to cancel NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] and withdraw from the WTO [World Trade Organization]. The president can do that. Then I will establish trade with other nations that’s based on workers’ rights, meaning the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to a decent wage and benefits, the right to a safe work place, the right to be able sue your employer if you are working on a job that is unsafe and the employer hasn’t corrected it, the right to a secure retirement, the right to participate in the political process. These are basic rights that will be written into the trade agreements. Other countries who want to trade with the United States have to guarantee the workers that. That way there’s no race to the bottom. That way we don’t lose factories to countries that don’t provide workers with any protections. I see trade as being this marvelous mechanism that can lift up the human condition. That is one of the things I can do immediately.
So, Kucinich would only trade with nations that meet certain labor and political standards. My first question is, with whom would we be trading under such an approach? I'd like to see a list of who is in and who is out. And are there countries out there who would refuse to trade with us if they applied the same standard?
I would very much like to see the details of this proposal spelled out, but I suppose that would only happen if Kucinich stood a chance of winning.
