Clinton Camp Again Pushing Inaccurate Quotes on Obama and NAFTA That Were Debunked Months Ago

The Clinton campaign is trying to push old, inaccurate quotes that misstated Obama's position on NAFTA. When they tried to push the quotes months ago, we put up the full transcript of the question Obama was asked in 2004, that clearly shows he did not say he supported NAFTA. In fact, Obama has consistently opposed NAFTA-like trade deals and the 2004 the report that the Clinton campaign cites is inaccurate.

Transcript: Obama Did Not Say The U.S. "Benefited Enormously" from NAFTA, but from Exports. Obama was asked, “How do you believe that American agriculture has fared in the WTO and NAFTA, and how should we be engaged in further discussions?” Obama said, “Well this is, I think, a challenging issue for the farming community. Because on the one hand, we benefit enormously from exports and so we have an interest in free trade that allows us to move our products overseas. And I know that I may disagree with my opponent on this particular issue. On the other hand what I also know is that historically, because the United States has been the dominant economy, the view has been that other countries can restrict their imports as much as they want and the United States has to keep its markets as open as possible, and that's what constitutes free trade. Now that makes sense 50 years ago when we didn't have significant competition in the manufacturing sector, and we didn't really have significant competition in the agricultural sector as well. That is just not the case today, and so I think it's important for us to negotiate our trade agreements recognizing that the global economy has shifted, and that we have significant competition in the agricultural sector as we do in the manufacturing sector. What that means then is when the Chinese government devalues its currency by 40 percent, we've got to make sure then that we bring China before the WTO, the same way that we get brought before the WTO if other countries think that they're being disadvantaged by our existing trade policy. So what I'm constantly looking at is how can we open markets that are currently closed, whether those are European markets or Asian markets, all across the world agricultural barriers exist at a much higher rate in Europe or Asia than they do right here in the United States. If we are to be competitive over the long term, we've got to make sure free trade remains in place, but it's also fair trade for American farmers.” [Illinois Farm Bureau Transcript, 8/9/07]

Transcript: Obama Said He Supported "Restructuring NAFTA." "Do you support rolling back NAFTA or GATT?" Obama said, "I would support restructuring NAFTA and GATT to make sure that environmental protections, labor protections and so on are in place. And I also think that we've got to enforce some of these provisions more aggressively, the same way other countries are doing. I use the example of China. If China is devaluing its currency by 40 percent and we are not challenging them on that, then there's not much point of having China in the WTO, if they're not respecting our trademarks and our copyright laws. If we have countries that continue to present barriers to us - non-tariff barriers - to our products getting to market, then those are all issues that I think we've got to challenge these countries on. And that's the responsibility of the Administration. The problem in a lot of our trade agreements is that the Administration tends to negotiate on behalf of multinational companies instead of on behalf of workers and communities. If we had a shift in orientation in terms of who are we negotiating for, then I think you'd see some different outcomes." [Illinois Farm Bureau Transcript, 9/8/04]

2004 Chicago Tribune Cited Its Difference With Obama's Opposition to NAFTA. The Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial, "We sharply differ with some of those views, particularly Obama's opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement." [Chicago Tribune, 2/29/04]

2004 New Yorker: Obama Opposed NAFTA. The New Yorker wrote, "This is a regular theme with Obama: supporters who disagree with him. The two big Chicago daily papers both endorsed him enthusiastically in the primary, even though they disagreed with him on major issues-his opposition to the war in Iraq and, in the case of the Tribune, his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement." [New Yorker, 5/31/04]

Obama Said NAFTA And CAFTA Were Not In The Best Interest Of The American Worker "Because They Did Not Contain The Sorts Of Labor Provisions And Environmental Provisions" That They Should Have. "The AP reported, "Obama said he supports the foreign trade deal, which is especially important to labor and U.S. manufacturers. He said active trading is a key way to keep the United States competitive. 'We're not going to draw a moat around the United States' economy. If we do that, then China is still trading, India is still going to be trading,' said Obama, who voted against the recent Central American Free Trade Agreement and opposes the pending trade deal with South Korea. 'I think that NAFTA and CAFTA did not reflect the interests of American workers but reflected the interests of the stock owners on Wall Street, because they did not contain the sorts of labor provisions and environmental provisions that should have been embedded and should have been enforceable in those agreements,' he said." [AP, 10/10/07]