Trade

Expanded international trade can benefit North Carolina companies and workers by opening up new markets, but too often, it has not worked out that way. We keep signing trade deals that open our markets, without enforcement mechanisms to ensure that nations like China honor the agreements. Trade can benefit North Carolina and the rest of the world if all sides honor their agreements and we include higher standards for worker rights, environmental protection, product safety, and intellectual property protection. As your next U.S. Senator, I will fight against unfair trade agreements that cost North Carolina jobs and ensure that we make international trade work for North Carolina workers and their families. Below, I outline my vision for a new trade policy:

• I will work to overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Today, this program is designed to help those who lose their jobs due to international trade transition into new careers by providing money for education, lost wages, job search, and relocation. I want to expand the number of Americans who are eligible for this program and institute a system to measure how well the program is working, so we can improve it.

• I support revisiting labor enforcement and environmental protection provisions in trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.  I am concerned that these deals are not working for the people of North Carolina and will need to be renegotiated. Moreover, I want Congress to have the authority to periodically review these agreements to ensure that workers’ rights, environmental protection and safety standards are in line with our expectations and our values.

• I also believe that free trade is not a one way street, where our markets are open to foreign countries but not the other way around. That is why I will ensure that every trade agreement we sign will have a clause that allows the United States to reinstate domestic tariffs if foreign countries do not abide by their obligations to open up their markets.