Veteran commentator Pat Buchanan on Wednesday slammed Republican supporters of granting "fast-track" trade promotion authority to President Barack Obama, saying it will benefit multinational corporations at the expense of U.S. workers and doom the GOP's presidential prospects for the foreseeable future.
Appearing on the "The Laura Ingraham Show," the former GOP presidential candidate and White House aide attacked the party's handling of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, saying it will take a devastating toll on Republican presidential prospects in swing states such as Ohio.
Buchanan,
the Daily Caller noted, said he did not understand how staunch advocates of free trade agreements like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan could seriously argue that these deals were good for American workers.
"How does Paul Ryan explain the fact that we've had $11 trillion in trade deficits since the NAFTA decade?" including $3 trillion to $4 trillion with China, Buchanan asked. "Take a look at our country: Why is China suddenly [building] all these gleaming new cities and factories and plants to build the silk road, while the United States of America is indebted $2.5 trillion to China and Japan?"
It "stands to reason that if you have Americans making maybe $20 an hour and Chinese making $5 an hour, you want to produce in China because you can get four workers for one American worker," he said. "But you want to maintain your access to the great American market, the $18 trillion American market, so you get free access there."
The interests of transnational corporations and American workers "have irrevocably separated," Buchanan declared.
Ingraham quoted Ryan summarizing the Republican argument for the TPP. "The rules of
the global economy are being rewritten right now. The question is who will write them," the Wisconsin Republican said.
Ingraham noted that House Republican leadership supporters of TPP like Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma have said they trust Obama to negotiate a good deal.
Buchanan responded that Ryan and other Republicans "should explain this — why is it better when they get this trade agreement, this TPP, that the Republican Party, the great protector of the American worker, has surrendered all rights to amend the treaty, has surrendered all ability to change its terms in any way, but gets itself just an up-or-down vote. You're surrendering your power to change a trade treaty, and you're saying this is the way to get the best one."
Buchanan warned that the deal would cost the Republicans any chance of carrying the critical swing state of Ohio — virtually ensuring that Democrats keep the White House for the foreseeable future.
Without Ohio, Buchanan and others have argued, the Democrats have about 242 of the 270 electoral votes they need to hold on to the White House; with the addition of its 18 electoral votes, he predicted, it would be very unlikely, if not impossible, to prevent the Democratic candidate from reaching 270.