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Ohio Democrat Cautiously Supports Trump's Renegotiation of NAFTA

Ideastream Public Media | By M.L. Schultze,
M.L. Schultze
Published August 15, 2017 at 5:15 PM EDT
Congressman Tim Ryan says he believes it would be impractical to try to abandon NAFTA altogether because of more than 20 years of blended economies. But he says a new deal with labor, consumer and environmental protections would serve Ohio better.
Congressman Tim Ryan says he believes it would be impractical to try to abandon NAFTA altogether because of more than 20 years of blended economies. But he says a new deal with labor, consumer and environmental protections would serve Ohio better.
Congressman Tim Ryan says he believes it would be impractical to try to abandon NAFTA altogether because of more than 20 years of blended economies. But he says a new deal with labor, consumer and environmental protections would serve Ohio better.
Congressman Tim Ryan says he believes it would be impractical to try to abandon NAFTA altogether because of more than 20 years of blended economies. But he says a new deal with labor, consumer and environmental protections would serve Ohio better.

The Trump administration is to begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement tomorrow and has the qualified support of Ohio Democrats like Congressman Tim Ryan. But as WKSU’s M.L. Schultze reports, issues like transparency, labor rights and the environment may erode that support.

Midwesterm Democrats like the Youngstown area’s Ryan have maintained for years that NAFTA needs to be reworked. He says it has helped shift jobs overseas and lower wages here, while doing nothing to boost wages for one of the key partners, Mexico. But Ryan also is calling for transparency during negotiations, including access to staff negotiating documents and a final version of the agreement.

“This is not a private company that the administration is running. It’s a public entity; it’s a government that has elected officials involved in it. And you’ve got to have transparency and you’ve got to make sure that organized labor’s included in these discussions, that the environmental organizations are included in the discussions, the consumer groups.”

Ryan was among those critical of the secrecy by the Obama administration that surrounded negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal the Trump administration abandoned.

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M.L. Schultze
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M.L. Schultze
M.L. Schultze came to WKSU as news director in July 2007 after 25 years at The Repository in Canton, where she was managing editor for nearly a decade. She’s now the digital editor and an award-winning reporter and analyst who has appeared on NPR, Here and Now and the TakeAway, as well as being a regular panelist on Ideas, the WVIZ public television's reporter roundtable.