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Rudy Giuliani on Trade and Economics
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
In 1993, he said he was skeptical of the NAFTA agreement opening markets between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. "He was mayor of New York in 1993, and was looking out for the people of New York," says Michael Boskin, a Hoover Institution fellow and economic adviser to the Giuliani campaign. "I think he thought there were some aspects of NAFTA that would give one a reason for pause. As president, the mayor would look out for the interests of all Americans."
Trading Free National Review, August 9, 2007
Giuliani's economic adviser, Stanford University's Michael Boskin, has said Giuliani supports free trade "but also wants to make sure countries such as China are playing fair," according to an April 2007 report in the Business Journal of Phoenix.
Rudy will tear down the walls to free trade and create new markets for American-made products. He will protect America's innovations and intellectual property by enforcing our trade agreements aggressively. - Reduce corporate tax rates and regulatory burden so that Americans can better compete in the global economy. - Reform the excesses of Sarbanes-Oxley that are driving our corporations overseas to list on foreign exchanges. - Reenact the Presidential Fast-Track Trade Promotion Authority and complete the Doha Development Round.
In an October 2007 Republican presidential debate, Giuliani spoke in support of the pending Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, saying they "would be good deals for the United States."
"My stand on the minimum wage is that I have asked a study to be conducted to determine the impact it would have on poor people getting jobs,"' he said. "I anticipate that I'll eventually support it, but first I have to see what their study shows," he said.
"And if they want to have a union, God bless them. If they want to have a union, that should be their free choice. If they don't want to have a union, that should be their free choice. And there should be no intimidation involved where it has to be done---where it has to be done publicly where people can pressure them and people can put them out of undue pressure on them."
"Some help for some industries are helpful. Help with getting over the hump to independence."
"The governor [Romney] is right, there isn't a level playing field. The subsidies in Europe are far higher than they are in the United States. We could reduce subsidies here if they would do it there, but we shouldn't do it on our own. And also, we have to be very aware of the fact that we have to have our own supply of food. We can't be dependent on foreign countries for our food.... Although simplistically it might seem like you'd want to get rid of all the subsides, we've got to do this very carefully, and you have to do it in concert with these free trade agreements and other agreements you're making so that European countries reduce their much heavier subsidies."
Giuliani said it was a bad idea and self-defeating to try to limit the United States' trade deficit by limiting the sale of United States government bonds sold to foreign countries, especially China.
Giuliani's economic adviser, Stanford University's Michael Boskin, has said Giuliani supports free trade "but also wants to make sure countries such as China are playing fair," according to an April 2007 report in the Business Journal of Phoenix.