Independent former Gov. Angus King said Tuesday negotiations surrounding a trade agreement that could lead to the elimination of a tariff on athletic footwear should be put on hold until the economy improves and that the tariff shouldn’t be removed at all.
King, one of six candidates vying to replace Olympia Snowe in the U.S. Senate, made his statements about the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a free-trade agreement in the works that includes Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States — before he toured New Balance’s shoe manufacturing facility in Skowhegan.
New Balance, the last major shoe company with manufacturing in the United States, has said the tariff on athletic footwear makes it possible for the Boston-based company to operate its three factories in Maine and two in Massachusetts rather than transfer the work overseas. New Balance’s Maine factories are in Norridgewock, Oxford and Skowhegan.
“Eliminating the tariff on athletic footwear creates an uneven playing field that makes it impossible for this company and others across the country to compete,” King said in a statement. “There are more than 900 jobs at stake in Maine, and it would be a terrible blow to the region and the state if these jobs are lost.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and Sen. Susan Collins last month hosted a press conference with New Balance officials in Washington, D.C., where they argued against dropping tariffs through the proposed trade agreement. Snowe also has supported tariffs that benefit New Balance and invited U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to visit one of Maine’s New Balance factories this fall.
Meanwhile, Kirk’s office says trade agreement negotiations among the participating nations will continue next month in Leesburg, Va.
Democrat Cynthia Dill and independent Danny Dalton on Tuesday lined up with King’s position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, while independents Steve Woods and Andrew Ian Dodge said they generally opposed tariffs. Republican Charlie Summers couldn’t be reached for a comment on the trade agreement late Tuesday afternoon.
Dill said there’s “no reason” to drop the athletic footwear tariffs.
“New Balance is the only athletic shoe firm left in the United States that still makes its footwear on our shores,” she said in a statement. “It is vital that we do all we can to protect the workers in our Skowhegan and Norridgewock factories from unfair trade practices abroad.”
Dalton said he agreed with King’s position, but called for more transparency in the trade agreement negotiations.
Dodge, a libertarian and free-trade proponent, said tariffs can’t realistically be part of free trade agreements.
“If a tariff protects a company, that’s wrong, and it means they remain uncompetitive and protected by government, leading to higher prices for the consumer and lack of choice,” he said.
Woods warned against relying too much on protectionism to keep U.S. jobs and said trade agreement negotiations shouldn’t be delayed.
“For countries we are engaged in doing business with, the optimum goal would be to eliminate any reasonable trade barriers relative to both export and import,” he said. “It only becomes unfair when there’s a specific restriction going in one direction.”
Why not put one in Washington County!!!
Hey Angus, you increased spending in this state by double then you went on vacation…please sir, stay on vacation.
Oh wow, Angus King agrees with a “no brainer”. Maybe that will be his mantra – no brainer.
Well we could go with Summers. He hasn’t had any ideas at all that would help Maine manufacturing. Maybe he intends on opening a tea shop.
http://goo.gl/e5BhD
According to the BDN:
King good; Summers bad. Repeat.
If it were their jobs that were threatened they would feel very differently about the whole thing. This is why our country is going bankrupt. We have exported all the jobs that make things that satisfy humans basic needs and leaders in goverment cannot bring themselves to understand it.
Product gets priced too low, over manufacturing as someone said lobsters were over fished. Manufacturers can go over seas for cheaper buildings, regulations and workers.
You can’t just go over seas and start fishing for lobsters to survive financially. The clawed lobsters only live near here.
Way to Go Angus!
Trade Agreements are what is destroying this Country!
The Land of the Free ( Enterprise) and the Home of it’s Slaves!
Keep the tariff, keep the jobs. Pretty straightforward.
“Republican Charlie Summers couldn’t be reached for a comment on the trade agreement late Tuesday afternoon.”
You should be sued for journalistic malpractice, Stone. Summers was busy touring the state with the director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, including a stop at Quirk Auto in BANGOR, which has strongly backed his pro-business campaign. Not a word about this significant piece of news in the BDN, because that would offer the electorate a positive view of Summers campaign. This article again demonstrates that their fellow media liberal King clearly has the support of this leftist rag.
How do I know this? WABI, Kennebec Journal, and Portland Press Herald saw fit to report on Summers tour with the US Chamber.
Want real, complete news? Go elsewhere, BDN readers. Want leftist propaganda? Stick around.
Danny boy!
It’s realy not to hard for him to screen phone calls , besides maybe he was busy at Quirks picking out the color of the new car for his next parade appearance!
Missing the point, Dilbert. Other Maine media outlets found the tour he conducted with the US Chamber newsworthy. The BDN chose to spotlight King’s soapboxing on trade tariffs to the exclusion of appropriate coverage of Summers.
As I said above: In the BDN’s view, King good; Summers bad; repeat.
Search BDN you will find that they covered him as well!
one more reason not to vote for summers- his endorsement by the national chamber
Spoken like a true child of the welfare state.
sorry loser, my tax dollars go to support conservatives getting welfare–you seem to know all about it .but no need to thank me-
You and I do not agree very often but you are right about this. BDN should have provided much better coverage of Maine’s Secretary of State on his political tour of the area. Oh by the way did you happen to notice if Marden’s was open?I only ask because we were told that if Marden’s was open then it was a work day for State employees. If the State offices are not closed shouldn’t Mr. Summers be at work instead of spending the day politicking?
Let me make a very simple clarification for you. Summers, like all state employees, and nearly every American receiving a paycheck, is allotted a certain amount of paid time off. He was touring the state yesterday as Maine’s potential next U.S. Senator, not as Secretary of State.
I expect this is clear to 99% of BDN readers. You must be one of those one percenters everyone is complaining about.
Now here I tried to be nice and ask you a simple question and you actually provided an answer, but then like most tea party parrots you had to get nasty didn’t you? Exactly how many personal days does a State employee with slightly less then 20 months of service get?
Why not protect american jobs!!!!
Tariffs are a ‘damned if you do; damned if you don’t’ issue for mainstream liberals like Angus who agree in principle with a ‘free trade, we can compete with the world’ philosophy, until they have to meet with a protected industry or a defense contractor.
…but then Angus manages duplicity, tinged with hypocrisy, rather well. Gotta wonder where his footwear is made and whether it’s tasty when he sticks his foot into his mouth?
King, like his quixotic counterpart who was fond of tilting at windmills, seems to be propelled these days by flatulence and myth. A simple evaluation of his tenure at the Blaine House is revealing, while his rapacious destruction of Maine’s wilderness to enrich his personal coffers is more than telling. King is a self-centered liberal who is adept at smiling and suggesting that he is something other than what he appears. Most of us who know King recognize that he is a weather-worn remnant of few skills who is focused on personal gain and recognition. A sheep in liberal clothing is no an easy thing to hide in Maine.