Regarding the debate over NAFTA in the 2008 presidential campaign, reader Ron Jauregui writes:

Our three presidential candidates seem to be a bit disingenuous, to say the least. Any one who is even vaguely familiar with basic international economics knows that free trade produces net wealth for each participating country. And for most of us, it is obvious that free trade produces both economic winners and losers domestically. The issue is not whether free trade is good…the issue is for whom?

The paramount task for public policy makers is what to do with the wealth that is created by free trade. The problem we face is that, currently, our nation’s free trade net wealth has not been widely dispersed. It would seem to me that good policy would dictate using some of that net wealth to transform our economic losers into winners.

Best,

Ron Jauregui

Former NADBank Advocate for the Latino Consensus on NAFTA

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) responded to President Bush’s statement that he intends to negotiate a “long-term strategic partnership” with the Iraqi government. “We cannot allow President Bush to tie the hands of his successor to his failed Iraq policy,” Clinton said.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) also commented on Bush’s speech, criticizing the President for having “failed to show us any real evidence of political progress in Iraq, which was the purpose of his policy.”

Speaking in Utah, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he believed overall security in Iraq would continue to improve (SaltLakeTribune) despite the recent resurgence in violence.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) laid out his broad foreign policy agenda in a speech Wednesday at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

Citing his own family’s experiences, McCain stressed his abhorrence of war, but said the United States must be “successful” in the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq so that those countries can become “stable democracies themselves.” Calling for democracy promotion in the region, McCain said U.S. officials can “no longer delude ourselves that relying on these outdated autocracies is the safest bet.” Summing up his foreign policy views, McCain said he is a “realistic idealist.”

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) both released statements (Clinton’s, Obama’s) responding to McCain’s statements on Iraq and emphasizing their own pledges to end the war.

Sen. Hillary Clinton told reporters Tuesday the Bush administration should be “much more forceful” in pressuring China to ease its crackdown on Tibetan activists. She said U.S. officials should not wait (Reuters) until the Olympics this summer to make their views known.

In a statement Tuesday on Greek Independence Day, Clinton said she remains “concerned over Cyprus’ continued division” and urged a “new impetus for a negotiated settlement with the goal of the island’s reunification.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an antagonist of the Bush administration in Latin America, said U.S.-Venezuelan relations might worsen under a presidency of Republican John McCain. “Sometimes one says, ‘worse than Bush is impossible,’ but we don’t know. McCain also seems to be a man of war,” Chavez told foreign correspondents Tuesday. McCain has called for countering Chavez’s “nefarious” influence in part by rebuilding ties with democracies there and strengthening trade with the region.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) released a statement Monday congratulating Taiwanese President-elect Ma Ying-Jeou and calling on China to “reduce the military threat to Taiwan by drawing back the missiles it has deployed in southeast China and by other security confidence-building measures.” He also said the United States should “reopen blocked channels of communication with Taiwan officials.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also commented on the Taiwanese election Monday. He praised the election as a “peaceful transfer of political power from one government to another based on ballots in an election that was free and fair.”

Iraq: As news broke Monday that the four-thousandth U.S. soldier had been killed in Iraq, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Obama both released statements honoring the soldiers and reiterating their calls to end the war. See Clinton’s and Obama’s.