Jamie P. Estrada
This is a follow-up to a commentary published on this site in August.
Friday’s quiet signing of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea by President Obama not only marks important progress in opening markets for U.S. products and services, but it also marks a rare moment in bipartisanship. And it’s good news for the struggling U.S. economy as our manufacturers and service providers can now compete on a level playing field abroad with the Europeans and Canadians.
After stalling on trade for nearly three years, the Obama Administration finally realized that they couldn’t sit on these agreements any longer and submitted them to Congress earlier this month, and they passed both the House and Senate by wide margins. However, these agreements could have made it to the president’s desk much sooner had it not been for White House insistence that Congress first increase funding for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) – an antiquated Labor Department program dating to the 1960s which hasn’t truly been reformed to deal with the dynamics of today’s modern economy.
Nonetheless, Congress acquiesced and included a modest renewal of TAA. This provides political cover mainly to Democrats in Congress who recognize the importance of expanding U.S. exports, but who also needed something for their base.
How our representatives voted
One would have thought that TAA renewal would earn the support of New Mexico’s entire congressional delegation for the FTAs, given that our state stands to benefit from these agreements. However, only two members of our delegation – Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Steve Pearce – voted for all three agreements. I commend them for their support for advancing both America’s and New Mexico’s competitiveness. Sen. Bingaman ends his Senate career having supported every FTA brought before Congress.
Sen. Tom Udall voted only for the South Korean agreement – the first major FTA he’s voted for in his congressional career (he did vote for the much smaller Moroccan and Bahraini agreements) – although he did so “grudgingly,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. It would be better for New Mexico if Sen. Udall’s record on trade resembled that of his cousin Sen. Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado (a non right-to-work state, no less), who voted in favor of all three agreements.
The two other delegation members – Rep. Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Luján – voted against all three agreements. Lujan’s vote against these agreements, while disappointing, is hardly surprising given that he never demonstrates any independence from his Democrat masters in the Nancy Pelosi wing of his party.
Political pandering and protectionism
But it’s Heinrich’s vote against the FTAs that is most disappointing, because in Congress he represents the Greater Albuquerque area, where most of the state’s exports originate, including from many small and medium-sized businesses that currently or aspire to sell overseas. Exports from Central New Mexico support thousands of private-sector jobs and, combined with the fact that the U.S. has a merchandise trade surplus with our FTA partners, it’s disturbing that Heinrich doesn’t recognize the economic benefits of these agreements to his constituents.
Yet it’s clear why Heinrich voted against the agreements: He’s pandering to the special interests, mostly from labor unions, who are bankrolling his campaign to become New Mexico’s next U.S. senator. After all, any deviation from big labor’s agenda might cause them to give his Democrat opponent another look. Pandering may help Heinrich become the Democrat’s Senate nominee, but it will do little to advance New Mexico’s economy and create private-sector jobs.
The question remains whether entrepreneurs, particularly those in New Mexico’s science and technology community, will support Heinrich given his clear record as a protectionist. These are sophisticated businesspeople who understand the importance of accessing global markets. Heinrich’s poor record on trade and competitiveness should raise plenty of eyebrows about whether he’s too partisan or ideological to fill the shoes of Jeff Bingaman.
New Mexico-based firms like DW Turner have also done work in Latin America and Asia, and we’d like the chance to do more – creating jobs with benefits and paying the taxes that keep our community and state running. Most of DW Turner’s revenue comes from out of state, but it’s tougher to compete with firms in Sydney, London or Barcelona if our own congressman isn’t even on the same job-growth page with Obama, Pearce and Bingaman.
A good start
Free-trade votes are often tough votes, and I’m pleased that both Sen. Bingaman and Congressman Pearce put the country’s interests above the special interests and joined the majority of their colleagues in supporting these job-creating and market-opening agreements. Much more has to be done to get our economy moving again, but implementing these FTAs is a good start.
Estrada served as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing in the George W. Bush administration and is a vice president at DW Turner. A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Udall had never voted for any FTA before the South Korean agreement.