Senator Clinton's Position On NAFTA - Interview CBC With Clinton's Advisor

Senator Clinton's position on NAFTA - Interview Katheen Purdy and
Gene Sperling, Senior advisor to Clinton.

Translated by Janet M Eaton

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/thehouse_20080329_5133.mp3

The House, Saturday, March 29, 2008

This week on the House, Kathleen Petty (KP) speaks with Hillary
Clinton's chief economic advisor Gene Sperling (GS) about the
Senator's position on NAFTA. She wasn't a fan when he helped her
husband negotiate the agreement and she hasn't warmed to it since.


KP I´m Kathleen petty and this is the House
 
 Gene Sperling was economic advisor to bill Clinton at the time the
former US President  signed NAFTA- now he´s advising Hillary Clinton
at a time when she´s wondering just how good a trade deal NAFTA
really is- Truth is she´s wondered that that for a long time for
months´ and unless it´s renegotiated she´ll walk away. Gene Sperling
took time away from the Clinton campaign trail to speak in Ottawa
about our mutual economic interests -Gene Sperling welcome to the
house.

GS - Well thank you for having me at the house and thank you for
Canada 20/20 for inviting me to  Ottawa

KP As Part of your remarks in that lecture series -I was  interested
to see that you acknowledged there e remains controversy about 
whether Bill Clinton should have signed NAFTA 13 years ago and that
`s and obviously that´s an  issue which is being debated during this
campaign  in the US and one we´re listening to very closely

You don´t have the answer to the question though  -should Bill
Clinton have signed NAFTA without side agreements on labour and the
environment

Those are very tough issues - he felt at the time that he wanted to
be the president that would be  first cold war President - he didn´t
think everything was perfect about the agreement but I think the
important  thing was he recognized that was not the standard for
agreements going forward- particularly on labour and environmental 
standards and reason this is very  important - it´s very important
for Americans to see that our engagement with the global economy is
never about a race to the bottom  - that it should be about trying to
raise the  wages and standard of living of working people in our 
country and in the countries we´re trading with- and I think there
was not enough confidence in that, in the way we were forced to do it
in NAFTA since it had been negotiated by the previous administration.

KP- I heard David Gherkin say on CNN that  to be fair to Hillary
Clinton- because the criticism has been that well her husband signed
NAFTA so why is she complaining about NAFTA now-  why would she be
doing that  and he said to be fair she was actually opposed to NAFTA
while he supported  it at the time

GS- Well in 1992 when I was economic policy director advisor in the
campaign there was a controversy and there were several people who
were opposed to it and she was one of them -and that was in the
campaign in 92 and then in 93 she was also very concerned that  even
if we were  going forward she did not want it to distract or dilute
her goals in terms of health care but I think first lady Clinton also
knew that for an administration to function when a decision´s  had
been made people have to pull together and support it publicly- and
that everyone has to do that when you are an administration  and
first lady as well but yes it is the case that she was not a fan of
NAFTA as it was originated- she tried to be a team player  as it went
forward and I will  say that I think a lot of her skepticism returned
when she became governor of New York- and she started dealing with a
lot of issues particularly in upper  state New York- and started
worrying very much as to whether or not this had been a good
situation for a  whole lot of American workers .

KP - I´m not trying to put you in a position of picking sides but the
impression in Canada is that the concern is Mexico as opposed to
Canada. Is it reasonable for Canadians  to conclude that

GS - well I don´t want to - ah ah  - I don´t know  if I can totally
say that - because I think there is no question that can say that
Senator  Clinton, as  a senator from New York, has had to deal with
some trade  issues dealing with Canada

KP-  Where  labour and the environment are concerned - because those
are the two side agreements she thinks ...?

GS - but I don´t´ want to couch things because I´m here- she has had
and did deal as senator from new York with some labour disputes -
mariculture disputers -I don´t think there´s any secret  that some of
those exist  but I think want she laid out in our campaign was that
she felt that

1.    Labour and Environmental standards were not strong enough
2.    that there needed to be stronger enforcement within the agreement
3.    that she was very concerned about what called Chapter  13 - or the
tribunals and whether they have a negative impact on our ability to
set our own environmental standards
4.    And forth - which is more of a US issue - is that she wanted a
process for review

And I think at least three of those four things require  renegotiation of NAFTA
and she´s been forth right about that and she has said what she meant
and meant what she said.

KP:  It sounds like it could be a pretty substantial renegotiation
though couldn´t it- just looking at the environment , taking labour
aside, just  looking at the environment  alone - just given the
policies of the current admin in the US,  the policies of Canada vis
a vis Kyoto- I mean  this could be quite complex- couldn´t I t

GS- Well I´ve been away long enough to know that the way you start
those negotiations are even not on the best of radio shows- you  know
when asked would she be willing to walk away from the agreement - she
said that would not be her preference. She wants to work something
out and its an option she did not take off the table because she is a
very tough negotiator and her and her team are going to be tough
negotiators.

KP- And I have to ask - I don´t want you to comment on the whole
NAFTA gate issue as it relates to Barrack Obama but it did occur to me I would remiss
if I didn´t ask if you´ve had different conversations in private with
Canadian officials than you´ve had publicly-

GS -  I´ve had not conversations at all with any embassy officials
about this or anything else.

KP couldn´t be plainer than that- let´s talk about the economy
generally-

GS Sure

KP To what extent does Senator Clinton believe that some of the
difficulties in the economy are related to not just NAFTA but to
trade agreements period

GS - I think what Senator  Clinton believes is that the mark of the
US economy is whether we have shared prosperity- and what was nice
about the 1990s was that we were enjoying the benefits of openness
and competition - but it was benefiting all working families- and the
typical middle income families saw there adjusted income going up by
$8,000 -what we´ve seen in the last seven years is kind of I growing
inequality between the most well Americans  and the middle class ,
We´ve seen wage stagnation- So I think she feels that we´re at a
point where there are a lot of questions about whether the 
combination of different global economic forces as well as the
failure of our own domestic economic policy has not served middle
income families. And what she really wants is a new bargain for
middle class families- She doesn´t think there a single issue causing
this problem not that there is a silver bullet- but what she does
believe  is that she has put forward a comprehensive package that is
designed to help the US still have, as John F Kennedy said a rising
tied but making sure that we get back to where it is  lifting all
boats and that the benefits of our growth and productivity is
benefiting the aspirations , wages and standard of living of the
American people.

KP - Gene Sperling that you for this

GS - thank you very much for having me

KS - Gene Sperling is the senior economic advisor to Hilary Clinton _