A small sliver of the voters will determine the outcome of a tight presidential race. Yahoo! News asked a handful of undecided voters to keep a running diary: What news stories and events are coloring their choices?
COMMENTARY | LAGRANGE, Ga. -- The college students in my 2012 election class and I are putting a voter guide together for the other students and local residents in the community. Students rapidly claimed hot-button social issues and economic concerns. A few chose military conflict. That left me with international trade.
Foreign commerce seems equally likely to be ignored by the mainstream media. But it is no less an important issue, as we exported more than $2 trillion in goods and services, the most value to our economy ever. Jobs linked to international trade lead to more jobs that pay better, according to our U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Yet, as the AFL-CIO points out, our trade imbalance with China alone costs us nearly three million jobs. What can both candidates do to solve the problem?
Obama and Romney have condemned China's practices. The president has taken Beijing to court in the World Trade Organization, with some success, while Romney threatens to label China a currency manipulator on Day One of his presidency. So both are taking the China issue seriously.
But here is where Romney gets some separation over his rival. He's pushed for fast-track negotiation status to improve our ability to sign deals without congressional clutter. And he's proposed many free trade deals with the Middle East and Asia. Obama has differed from his protectionist party by getting Congress to ratify some Bush-era deals. But he has not worked as hard to sign additional deals, as they are controversial with his party. Yet the jobs that can be created from international commerce outweigh the losses. But Romney's unabashed support for free trade over cautious actions make him the leader on this issue for me.
John A. Tures is an associate professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/commentary-romney-better-buy-international-trade-170500739.html
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