Explore Candidates → Dennis Kucinich on Trade and Economics
Dennis Kucinich on Trade and Economics
"And I want to see America take a new direction in trade as part of this, and that means it's time to get out of NAFTA and the WTO--and have trade that's based on workers right: the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to decent wages and benefits and on and on. I'm here for workers standards."
2007 AFL-CIO Democratic primary forum Aug 7, 2007
"My first week in office, I will move to cancel NAFTA and our relationship with the WTO and go back to bilateral trade that will be conditioned on workers' rights, human rights, environmental quality principles."
2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Cars
"In my first week in office, I will notify Mexico and Canada that the US is withdrawing from NAFTA."
2007 AFL-CIO Democratic primary forum Aug 7, 2007
"NAFTA has spurred a $418 billion trade deficit, costing 525,000 jobs, most of them in manufacturing. The World Trade Organization forced our president to lift steel tariffs, which will cost us more good jobs and hurt consumers. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas would encourage the privatization of municipal services, including water."
Associated Press policy Q&A, "Trade" Jan 25, 2004
Do you support imposing tariffs on products imported from nations that maintain restrictive trade barriers on American products? KUCINICH: Yes.
1996 Congressional National Political Awareness Test Jul 2, 1996
Against the United States' most favored nation status with China.
Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan Sep 25, 2003
Voted NO on implementing CAFTA, Central America Free Trade
Bill HR 3045 ; vote number 2005-443 on Jul 28, 2005
Voted NO on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement
Bill H.R.4759 ; vote number 2004-375 on Jul 14, 2004
Voted NO on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement
Bill HR 2739 ; vote number 2003-432 on Jul 24, 2003
Voted NO on implementing free trade agreement with Chile
Bill HR 2738 ; vote number 2003-436 on Jul 24, 2003
Voted YES on withdrawing from the WTO
Bill H J Res 90 ; vote number 2000-310 on Jun 21, 2000
'We must make it a top priority to restore the value of the federal minimum wage, bringing it up to at least its 1968 level and indexing it to automatically keep pace with the cost of living.'
"I favor restoring the value that has been lost to inflation over the past 35 years, which would mean a minimum wage of over $8.50. I favor indexing this to automatically keep pace with the cost of living."
Associated Press policy Q&A, "Minimum Wage" Jan 25, 2004
"It is unjust that here, in the richest country on earth, there is no guarantee that a full time job will lift a family out of a situation of dire poverty. That is because full-time year-round minimum wage earnings at $5.15 an hour leave a family of three $5,000 below the poverty line."
In 2007, voted to increase the federal minimum wage.
Vote 18: H R 2
Kucinich will shift USDA funding and focus away from the promotion of concentrated intensive and industrial agribusiness. New focus will benefit family farmers, rural communities, the environment, and consumers, with policies crafted to enable farmers to earn a fair price and to provide safe, nutritious food to all people.
Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"
He voted for the Political Freedom in China Act of 1997, which provided for "improved monitoring of human rights violations" in China.
He voted for a 2006 bill that condemned relgious persecution in China.
In 2000, voted against the U.S.-China Trade Relations Act
Kucinich spoke out against granting China Most Favored Nation (MFN) status. Granting that status, says Kucinich, "has cost the U.S. the best leverage we have to influence China to enact worker rights, human rights, and religious rights and protections."