... was formerly part of the U.S. Trade Representative's office in the George W Bush administration [3]. Yes, all of the above are big clues to what's coming:
Opponents of trade liberalization claim that jobs are lost as a result of increased competition with foreign producers. Additional competition can result in some job loss, which can be acute in certain sectors and painful for those involved....
... Ronald Kirk, the United States trade representative.
According to Kirk, Obama, Felipe Calderon, and Stephen Harper "are all of the mind we should look for opportunities to strengthen Nafta." The Obama administration may be conducting a review, but they aren't looking to re-open it in order to add the labor and environmental protections that some of those on the left want. Also:
Mr. Kirk, the...
... Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as U.S. Trade Representative. Kirk is a strong NAFTA booster while Obama has only pretended not to be one. During the campaign, Obama played a cute game: pretending to want to "renegotiate" NAFTA, only to later admit that he'd been misleading. With Kirk, at least what they want to do is a bit more out in the open.
Around March 12, 2001, Dino Chiecci of the Associated Press...
... the possibility of become U.S. Trade Representative:
Becerra voted for NAFTA in 1993, a vote he later said he regretted because of the lack of labor protections.
He also supported China's World Trade Organization membership in 2000, and last year he pushed for passage of the trade deal with Peru, after labor protections were added.
In the past, he also has opposed trade deals -- like the...