You never addressed employment facts...what so ever.
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., makes a campaign stop at Ohio University Southern Campus Child Development Center, in Hanging Rock, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. If the shuttered factories that dot the Ohio landscape tell the story of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, so too do the miles of trucks carrying auto parts, fruit and tequila across the Mexican border through this booming port city in South Texas. Barack Obama and Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA as they campaign across Ohio, which holds its primary Tuesday. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., looks on as he walks along his tour of the National Gypsum plant Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008, in Lorain, Ohio. If the shuttered factories that dot the Ohio landscape tell the story of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, so too do the miles of trucks carrying auto parts, fruit and tequila across the Mexican border through this booming port city in South Texas. Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA as they campaign across Ohio, which holds its primary Tuesday. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A police officer directs traffic in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. In fact, Laredo's biggest challenge has been managing its eye-popping growth since the agreement came into law. Locals still complain about the endless traffic bottlenecks on the freeways and bridges. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
A fort lift operator moves goods bound for export to Mexico in a warehouse in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Jamie Rodriguez walks through a giant warehouse under construction for an expanding customs brokerage house that handles import and export goods in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Rudy Rosel, 5, pushes Isias Martinez, 6, along a dirt road in a neighborhood named Colonia Hermosa near downtown Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Even though NAFTA has brought relative prosperity to the border region, many critics of the trade agreement point to the staggering poverty among many low-wage service workers who have flocked to Laredo seeking jobs. This neighborhood inside the city limits of Laredo only received running water last year. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Rudy Rosel, 5, is pushed Isias Martinez, 6, along a dirt road in a neighborhood named Colonia Hermosa near downtown Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Even thought NAFTA has brought relative prosperity to the border region, many critics of the trade agreement point to the staggering poverty among many low-wage service workers who have flocked to Laredo seeking jobs. This neighborhood inside the city limits of Laredo only received running water last year. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
A police officer directs traffic in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. In fact, Laredo's biggest challenge has been managing its eye-popping growth since the agreement came into law. Locals still complain about the endless traffic bottlenecks on the freeways and bridges.(AP Photo/LM Otero)
A worker walks inside a giant warehouse under construction for an expanding customs brokerage house that handles import and export goods in Laredo, Texas, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border due to the increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico (AP Photo/LM Otero)
LAREDO — If the shuttered factories that dot the Ohio landscape tell the story of NAFTA, so too do the miles of trucks carrying auto parts, fruit and tequila across the Mexican border through this booming port city in South Texas.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio, which holds its primary Tuesday. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas, another delegate-rich state holding a primary the same day — one that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border since the agreement came into effect in 1994.
Signed into law by President Bill Clinton, NAFTA opened up trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico by eliminating tariffs on most goods moved back and forth across those countries' borders. But the deal established no labor standards, encouraging manufacturers in Ohio and elsewhere to ship jobs to Mexico in order to produce goods more cheaply there.
NAFTA is highly unpopular in Ohio, where blue-collar workers are a pivotal force. But the agreement is widely praised in Laredo and other Texas border towns for bringing new life into a once poor and struggling region.
The border area — Laredo, the Rio Grand Valley — has been one of the areas most benefited by NAFTA. "There's no doubt about it," said Andres Rivas, an economics professor at Texas A&M International University who studies trade. "It's had a big, positive impact. I really don't see any down side." |
