Ben Muse's post on Mitt Romney reminds me that there is more to Mitt Romney's trade views than I mentioned in my earlier post. Picking out some of the aspects I found most interesting, Romney would like to see the following:
- U.S. and multilateral efforts to stop currency manipulation by China and others
This could mean a WTO complaint, or something less confrontational, such as tougher negotiations. At a recent campaign stop, he called for a "crackdown" on China's alleged currency manipulation. I'm not sure if "crackdown" is code for "I would support a complaint," but it does sound fairly strong.
- building food, safety and other standards to protect Americans but stop illegitimate efforts to stop U.S. farm and other exports.
This is a tricky one. He wants strong food and safety standards for Americans, but wants to make sure that other countries' standards do not act as barriers to U.S. exports. He is trying to draw a very fine line here. It's not clear whether he thinks existing rules (like SPS and TBT) draw the line in the right place, or whether he thinks we need to take another look at the rules.
- Starting with a core of U.S. free trade agreement partners, Governor Romney would seek to bring together nations committed to open markets and playing by the rules in the largest ever Free Trade Area. … [It] would act as an alliance working together internally, in the World Trade organization and elsewhere to push reforms and work cooperatively in areas like labor and the environment. Governor Romney would seek to expand these efforts to include the European Union and other nations that agree to meet these standards, while challenging China and others advancing agreements that exclude America.
Who exactly would be in this Free Trade Area? He seems to make an overture to the EU, while placing China on the outside. There are certainly risks to taking this approach. It's kind of an "us versus them" mentality.
Finally, like Hillary Clinton, he has concerns about the U.S. - South Korea FTA based on the perceived lack of access it provides U.S. car makers to the Korean auto market; on the other hand, he does support the Panama and Colombia FTAs, which she opposes out of concern for actions by certain political leaders in those countries.