Published: 12:29 AM, Sun Mar 14, 2010
Inside Politics: McIntyre calls for NAFTA repeal


U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre is renewing his call to repeal a 16-year-old trade agreement that he says is responsible for eliminating thousands of North Carolina jobs.

The Democrat from Lumberton says the recession and bleak employment outlook may give fresh momentum to his long-held desire to end the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

The bill was signed into law in 1993 by President Clinton and took effect the following year. McIntyre was sworn into office in 1997.

The legislation reduced tariffs and eliminated many barriers to trade and investment between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Critics say NAFTA sped up the collapse of the American manufacturing base as jobs shifted to cheaper labor south of the border. As evidence of their claims, they point to the vast erosion of North Carolina's many textiles and furniture jobs since the 1990s.

Last week, McIntyre signed House Resolution 4759, which calls for the U.S. to withdraw from NAFTA.

After all these years, does he think NAFTA could be repealed?

"Here is another opportunity because of the current state of our economy and the concern about jobs," he said in a phone interview from Washington on Thursday. "There is a strong momentum building to finally do away with NAFTA."

Three Republicans are seeking the nomination to oppose McIntyre in the fall. He represents the 7th Congressional District, which stretches from Lumberton to Wilmington and includes eastern and southern Cumberland County.

Two of his three Republican challengers, who all face a May 4 primary, have opinions about NAFTA.

Will Breazeale, who lost to McIntyre in 2008, said in an e-mail last week that NAFTA isn't the problem. High taxes are crippling business owners, who are the backbone of employment, he said. He supports the so-called fair tax movement that would abolish federal income taxes in favor of what would essentially be a national sales tax.

"I feel NAFTA is a vital tool in allowing our country to compete in a world economy," Breazeale said. "In the 21st century, we would be naive to think we do not need to continue strong trade relations with our neighbors."

Another Republican challenger, Ilario Pantano of Wilmington, said in an e-mail that he supports free trade, "but I do not support NAFTA or other agreements which have forced us into a series" of unbalanced relationships "that ultimately favor China and hurt the U.S."

Pantano said the ballooning U.S. trade deficit has coincided with the loss of millions of domestic jobs. He said Chinese-based factories working on Mexican soil are shipping products into the United States under the protection of NAFTA.

"That is economic suicide, and I will not let it continue on my watch," he said.

The third GOP candidate, Randy Crow, said on first blush that repealing NAFTA might be a good idea, "but I would have to research the issue and be satisfied with the context" first. He is an investor living in Kelly in Bladen County with a background in real estate.

McIntyre recalls his first encounter with President Clinton, when he was a rookie congressman from Robeson County. He said the president and his advisers called McIntyre into the Oval Office in 1997. The president needed votes to give him fast-track trading authority for the United States.

"I told him no," McIntyre said. "They were counting heads, and I told them no."

McIntyre said he has seen too many people in his district lose their manufacturing jobs. One way to help them, he said, has been his consistent support of legislation since 1999 that offers incentives to businesses that move into areas that have lost jobs "because of the unfair competition from Mexico, mostly from the low wages."

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/03/14/981725