US Senator and presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee for the upcoming 2008 election, John McCain spoke about free trade and its relationship to the US steel industry this week in Youngstown, Ohio, a town that has been deeply affected by the loss of steel manufacturing jobs.
While Democrats and fellow presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have blamed the loss of US manufacturing jobs on the abuse of free trade, both expressing that they would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), McCain insists that free trade is the answer to the problem, not the cause.
In a town hall-style meeting at Youngstown State University, McCain said that, though he admits he cannot promise that the lost steel jobs will come back, the US should resist the urge to set up barriers against free trade. "The biggest problem is not so much what's happened with free trade, but our inability to adjust to a new world economy," he said. "We've got to be part of that new economy, rather than try to cling to an old economy."
At another point during the meeting, McCain said that the benefits of NAFTA outweigh the costs. He also told the audience, "Protectionism and isolationism have never worked in American history."
In response to an audience question of what he would do as president to slow the dumping of Chinese steel, McCain said that he would improve the competitiveness of the US workforce by improving job and education training.
McCain is on a week-long tour of "forgotten" places in the US that are struggling with unemployment and poverty.