Word: protectionists
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Sentiment on GATT doesn't divide along partisan lines. Before the task fell to Clinton, the agreement was championed by Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Ranged against it now is a loose front that runs from labor unions, environmental groups and Ralph Nader to protectionist Senate Democrats like Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Republicans like Phil Gramm of Texas. But Gingrich is a longtime GATT supporter who says he will make sure the agreement passes the House vote scheduled for Nov. 29. So the man who holds the cards is incoming Senate majority leader Bob Dole...
...nature of Quebec's situation does not lend itself to easy analysis. Unlike most groups who attempt to leave their political unions. Quebecers are not in Canada. Their culture is not threatened, enjoying some, of the most protectionist and support in the world...
START EARLY Distracted by another life-and-death struggle on the budget, Clinton ignored the looming NAFTA battle until after Labor Day. That gave the opposition time to lock up votes among House Democrats, who tend to be protectionist and mildly isolationist anyway. It also gave Clinton's own advisers, who were split over the wisdom of NAFTA, room to caper: several urged Clinton to pull out of the pact while he still had a chance and began planting the idea with party officials. The result was confusion...
...shows up in Seattle without a win on NAFTA, Asian nations will also be under less pressure to deal; one reason for them even to consider a Pacific Rim trade group is to ensure themselves a defensive base in the event that GATT should fail or NAFTA take a protectionist turn. Thus the White House has been playing down this week's gathering as merely a gesture in favor of more regional cooperation. "The meeting is the message," says Robert Rubin, director of the National Economic Council. In trade matters, it seems, complexity is a commodity that's always...
Most important is NAFTA's symbolic value. Diplomatically, the vote is being viewed as a severe test of whether the U.S. will maintain a policy of active engagement in the world or take an inward-looking, protectionist turn. Politically, Clinton's leadership is on trial. A majority of House Democrats, heavily dependent on labor support for election, are against NAFTA. Clinton has the unenviable, but vital challenge of proving that he is enough of a New Democrat to break free of union domination, and that he can bring enough Democrats along with him and forge a strong bipartisan coalition...