Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Thursday said he supports President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement — but referred to it as “PTT.”
“I’m a free-trader. I supported NAFTA, I believe in the PTT because it’s important those countries in Asia are an interface against China,” Kasich said at the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C.
{mosads}The governor elaborated that he is in favor of free trade in principle but that the U.S. needs to “stand up against” countries that take away American jobs through trade.
“For too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and takes our people’s jobs, and then we go to an international court, and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us,” he said. “And guess what, that worker’s out of a job.
“I think we should be for free trade, but I think fair trade.”
On the topic of trade during the debate, Republican front-runner Donald Trump said he is in favor of imposing a tariff against China, while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush pointed out that consumers bear the brunt of tariffs through higher prices.