home > by publication type > daily analysis > Battleground over Globalization
Email
| Author: |
|---|
The Bethlehem Steel Mills, a remnant of Pennsylvania’s old manufacturing sector, is being converted into a hotel casino complex. (AP/Steve Klaver)
Pennsylvania was not only the last large delegate-rich state up for grabs in the Democratic presidential primaries, it also provided one of the biggest battlegrounds yet for an intensifying national debate on revitalizing the U.S. economy in a globalized world. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) won this round (Politico) on April 22 by a solid margin over Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and exit polls showed Pennsylvanians viewing her as most capable of repairing the economy (CNN), their top concern. Obama, meanwhile, was expected to retain the overall edge in delegate votes needed in the contest to secure the party’s nomination.
To be sure, both Clinton and Obama largely agree on the reasons for the malaise in once robust manufacturing states like Pennsylvania and the prescriptions for reviving them. A larger debate still looms with the presumptive Republican candidate, Rep. John McCain (R-AZ), over free trade policy and the best ways to stimulate job growth in a globalized economy.
In the steel mills, meeting halls, and working class towns of Pennsylvania, Obama and Clinton have repeated attacks on the fifteen-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling for its renegotiation. In early April, Clinton unveiled a plan to step up enforcement of trade laws, including measures to crack down on what she called China’s “unfair trade practices.” Obama has also singled out China, at one point threatening to shut off access (Reuters) to the U.S. market to end currency manipulation practices. Both supported the April 10 move by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to freeze the Colombia free trade deal, which Democratic leaders linked to deeper discontent over the struggling U.S. economy.
In comments to the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Pittsburgh, Clinton and Obama emphasized they favored trade deals that were “fair” to U.S. workers and included labor and environmental protections (Bloomberg). Both also support cutting subsidies to companies that outsource jobs overseas and incentives for those maintaining operations domestically. They have proposed investing about $150 billion on alternative energies such as wind and solar power, which the campaigns estimate would create 5 million jobs in the next ten years. McCain
McCain traveled to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the week before the primary to issue a rebuttal. In a speech detailing his economic policy proposals, McCain defended the Colombia free trade agreement as a source of stability in the hemisphere and criticized Obama and Clinton for promoting “economic isolationism.” His other proposals for boosting competitiveness were not so far from Democratic policies such as improving unemployment insurance for those displaced by trade and using funds from federal accounts “to give displaced workers of every age a fresh start with new skills and new opportunities.” McCain also called for suspending federal taxes on gasoline from Memorial Day to Labor Day this year to serve as an added stimulus and introduced “gas tax holiday” legislation. On the eve of the Pennsylvania vote, Clinton said such a gas tax holiday was worth considering but Obama called it a bad idea (WSJ) and said any price reduction would be short lived.
Experts say the diverse landscape of Pennsylvania offers a useful laboratory for exploring ideas on reviving the U.S. economy. Like Ohio, a previous battleground state won by Clinton, Pennsylvania has taken a hit to its manufacturing base—losing 200,000 jobs since 2000. An official with the United Steel workers told Reuters: “We've got declining benefits. We have limited retirement security, disinvestment in our infrastructure and outsourcing.” But the state also has revived in a number of ways. A new study by the Brookings Institution says several of the state’s metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, are well configured to thrive in the global economy due to concentrations of “innovation, human capital, and knowledge economy jobs” (PDF). The report calls for federal assistance in strengthening such metro regions and helping states grow more of them, through a combination of improved transportation, education, and housing policy.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.