House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, defended U.S. participation in international trade deals, arguing Wednesday that they can be a boon for the economy.
The comments came the day after an address by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that attacked such deals as harming workers and American businesses. Brady argued that they benefitted more people than they harmed.
“One of America’s greatest economic freedoms is the freedom to trade — to buy, sell, and compete anywhere in the world with as little government interference as possible,” Brady said. “It lies at the heart of free enterprise and I believe Republicans must expand that freedom. Done right and aggressively enforced, trade agreements turn one-way trade coming into America into two-way trade that levels the playing field for American workers around the world. They are also one of the best ways to turn trade deficits into trade surpluses.”
Though Brady’s statement did not specifically mention Trump, it was a clear response to the speech by the GOP candidate gave the day before at Monessen, a factory town in western Pennsylvania.
“Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization — moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas. Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache,” Trump said. On Wednesday he took aim at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which lobbies for free trade deals.
The dueling remarks reflect the continuing ideological divide between Trump and the Republican Party establishment, which has found itself in a difficult marriage of convenience ever since the real estate developer and reality TV star won the primary. Throughout the campaign, Trump has touted economically populist proposals at odds with Republican orthodoxy.
