Gingrich: NAFTA Worked Because It Created Jobs In Mexico #p2

Senate Republicans yesterday vowed to block any potential nominees for Commerce Secretary or other trade posts until the White House moves ahead with free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. But Republicans need look back only to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of the '90s to see the potential downsides to these types of deals.

One of NAFTA's biggest promoters, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, appeared on the Howie Carr radio show yesterday evening and was asked about the watershed trade pact between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada he helped create. Responding to a caller who asserted that NAFTA killed American jobs, Gingrich didn't disagree, but retorted by touting the fact that NAFTA had created jobs "close to the United States" in Mexico:

CALLER: Back in the '90s I remember Ross Perot saying that there was going to be the giant sucking sound of jobs if NAFTA passed. I think it ended up being true, right? And I know you were a big free trader.

GINGRICH: Yeah, well, I don't think it was true in Mexico. I think the fact is that NAFTA allowed us to build jobs in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, in competition with China. I mean, our big competitor is not Mexico. Our big competitor is China and India. And I'd rather have jobs close to the United States than have jobs overseas in places like China and India. That's why I was in favor of it. … So in a sense, I'd like our neighborhood to be fairly well off and fairly prosperous.

Listen here:

rest at http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/15/gingrich-nafta-mexico-jobs/