From a McCain speech in Ottawa last week:
We must also work to ensure reliable energy supplies and increase sources of renewable energy. As you all know, Canada is America's largest energy supplier. Not only does Canada have the second largest proven oil reserves in the world, 60 percent of the energy produced in Canada is hydroelectric, clean energy. We stand much to gain by harmonizing our energy policies, just as have gained by cooperating in trade through NAFTA. Since NAFTA was concluded, it has contributed to strong job growth and flourishing trade. Since the agreement was signed, the United States has added 25 million jobs and Canada more than 4 million. Cross-border trade has more than doubled since NAFTA came into force. We have established North America as the world's largest economic market and the integration of our economies has led to greater competitiveness of American and Canadian businesses. Because of our common market, our workers are better able to compete, and to find opportunities of their own in the global economy.
There is still more work to do. Complying with NAFTA's rules of origin can be cumbersome and costly. Border delays can pose a serious impediment to trade, the equivalent of a tariff. And even now, for all the successes of NAFTA, we have to defend it without equivocation in political debate, because it is critical to the future of so many Canadian and American workers and businesses. Demanding unilateral changes and threatening to abrogate an agreement that has increased trade and prosperity is nothing more than retreating behind protectionist walls. If I am elected president, have no doubt that America will honor its international commitments -- and we will expect the same of others. We will strengthen and extend the open and rules-based international trading system. I aspire to lead a proud, outward-looking America that deepens its partnerships throughout the hemisphere and the world.
The part about "Complying with NAFTA's rules of origin can be cumbersome and costly" amused me a bit. I suppose rules of origin can be better or worse, depending on how they are crafted. But isn't the problem of "cumbersome and costly" rules of origin something inherent in bilateral/regional FTAs? If he was really concerned about problems with rules of origin, he might want to emphasize multilateral trade agreements over regional or bilateral FTAs.
Speaking of the downside of FTAs, Jagdish Bhagwati will have some things to say at an upcoming AEI event enitled Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade.
