President Bush, a supporter of free trade, has continued U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization despite some disagreements with the WTO's decisions, including a recent ruling on U.S. steel tariffs.

The president also has negotiated free trade agreements with a number of individual nations. Recently the administration has pursued a new "Free Trade Area of the Americas" that would create a trade zone linking North America with Central and South America.

The White House Web site says "America is economically stronger when we participate fully in the worldwide economy. When 95 percent of the potential customers for American products live outside the U.S., America must reject policies that would result in economic isolationism."

The White House says that free trade helps create jobs for American workers "by opening foreign markets to American exports -- as well as by encouraging foreign companies to set up operations in the United States. Foreign-owned firms directly employ more than 6.4 million workers in the U.S. -- jobs that might otherwise go to foreign workers -- and that does not include the millions of people who work at companies that supply parts and material to foreign-owned firms."

The Bush administration also argues that free trade has been a boon to American consumers by lowering the price of goods and increasing choices in the marketplace.

"Over the past decade, NAFTA and the Uruguay Round agreements [which established the WTO] have raised the standards of living of the average American family of four by up to $2,000 a year," says the White House, citing a report issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

However, the president has admitted that free trade can displace American workers.

"As we recognize the benefits of free and fair trade, we also recognize that any job loss from economic change, whether arising from trade or technology or increased productivity, is painful for some workers and their families," says the White House Web site.

To provide relief for American workers displaced by free trade the Bush administration has proposed:

- $23 billion for job training and employment assistance;

- $250 million for community colleges "to train workers for industries that are creating the most new jobs, as well as funding for new secondary education programs to better prepare high school students for the jobs of the 21st century"; and

- $1.1 billion for training and cash benefits for workers dislocated by increased imports or a shift of production to certain foreign countries.

"Over the long-term, trade is the most certain path to lasting prosperity," President Bush said at the Summit of the Americas in January 2004. "The openness of our market is the key driver of growth in the region and a testament to the United States' belief in the mutual benefits of trade."

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Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has supported free trade throughout his career in the Senate. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement, Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and "fast track" trade negotiating authority for the president. Kerry also has said, however, that President Bush has not done enough to enforce trade agreement rules or to protect American workers from the negative aspects of free trade.

"It would be a terrible mistake for the U.S. to suddenly try to button up and move away from globalization. It's happening, no matter what," Kerry said during a Democratic debate in South Carolina in May 2003. "We have to manage it more effectively. What we need is not to cancel NAFTA. We need trade … What's missing is a president who is prepared to negotiate to keep it from being a rush to the bottom, to raise the standards for people."

Kerry has proposed strict enforcement of existing trade agreements and environmental and worker protection guarantees for future agreements.

"Some nations have consistently violated agreements by the World Trade Organization," says Kerry's campaign Web site. "They have taken unfair actions to block U.S auto companies from selling in their markets. Many products from China are counterfeit or don't meet industry standards. While this administration has not used the remedies available under the World Trade Organization to crack down on these violations and help U.S industries, John Kerry would."

Kerry proposes a series of measures to improve trade agreements including:

- Ordering "an immediate 120-day review of all existing trade agreements to ensure that our trade partners are living up to their labor and environment obligations and that trade agreements are enforceable and are balanced for America's workers" and not signing "any new trade agreements until the review is complete and its recommendations put in place." Kerry also "believes that all new trade agreements must have strong labor and environmental standards";

- Using the World Trade Organization to stops countries like China and Japan from purposely and unfairly keeping their currency "undervalued relative to the U.S. dollar to promote exports in the United States and undermine U.S. products abroad";

- Enforcing intellectual property provisions included in current agreements in order to ensure that companies can freely enter into partnerships and "share their technology without losing control of it";

- Using WTO rules, diplomatic pressure and existing U.S. laws to stop countries from using "non-tariff barriers, such as making it difficult to access finance or have obscure investment requirements, to undermine U.S. exports. For example, auto exports to Japan are still essentially blocked by complicated rules."

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