McCain Talks Up Free Trade Associated Press go to original
Forrest Hylton: McCain visits Colombia and positions himself as the man who will "retake" Latin America
Cartagena, Colombia - John McCain hailed the economic benefits of free trade to Colombians yesterday, raising the possibility of an eventual hemispheric-wide agreement even though a weak economy at home has soured many U.S. voters on trade agreements. The Republican presidential candidate also toured Colombia's largest port by speedboat to review the country's U.S.-backed drug interdiction programs, a day after he praised President Alvaro Uribe for Colombia's anti-drug efforts but pressed him to improve his government's record on human rights. McCain was in the country when Colombia authorities rescued French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and others from leftist guerrillas, but he didn't learn of the operation until he was aboard a flight to Mexico. Uribe called McCain to inform him of the success. "It's a very high-risk operation," McCain told reporters. During his visit, McCain got in several plugs for a proposed U.S.-Colombian free trade agreement that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, opposes, suggesting the tariffs imposed on U.S. goods exported to Colombia would disappear under the agreement - creating jobs in the United States instead. McCain was also promoting the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has said would benefit the U.S. economy over time. Such deals have been deeply unpopular in several general election swing states, including Ohio and Michigan. And he said such trade agreements should be broadened to include other countries. "I would like to see a hemispheric free trade agreement," McCain said at a news conference in Cartagena. "I would like to see our continued assistance to countries like Colombia." Protectionist sentiment at home is worrisome, McCain said, "because history shows that isolationism and protectionism [have] very unpleasant consequences." But he added: "I am committed to getting every single American displaced from his or her job because of foreign competition ... a new job and a better future." Obama, who was speaking in Las Vegas to the United Steel Workers annual conference, said that trade should work for all Americans and that it was a mistake for the United States to open its markets without asking other countries to open theirs.
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Americas & Beyond | July 2008 
Associated Press
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