NAFTA has created millions of jobs, says McCain.

John McCain: I know NAFTA was a good idea. It’s created millions of jobs, and it has helped the economies of all three of these nations. All you have to do is go to Detroit and see the thousands of trucks lined up there every day. Or go to our Southern border. There have been winners and losers, and that’s the problem. But free trade is something I think that’s vital to the future of America. As a free trader, I will open up every market in the world to Iowa agricultural products. Have people lost jobs? Yes they have, and they’re gonna lose jobs; although the overall gain in jobs has been pretty impressive. But we can’t leave anybody behind. We cannot leave people behind because of being displaced workers, and I am committed to implementing training and education programs that works through our community colleges, which are very strong in Iowa; and tailor and implement training and education programs for the local needs so that we can have people fill jobs and not be left behind at a very early stage of their life, including . . . of their life including, if necessary, someone who had a high paying job that’s required to take a much lower paying job to have a . . . a level of compensation so that they wouldn’t experience that dramatic change in their income.

Recorded on: 11/20/07