Smart trade, the Clinton way

LADIES AND gentlemen, today we present round two of the John Edwards camp versus Hillary Clinton: the Clinton rebuttal.

Last Wednesday's column found David "Mudcat" Saunders, Edwards's populist impresario, lobbing acid accusations the Clintons' way. With NAFTA, Bill and Hillary Clinton really stuck it to rural America, Mudcat told me, though in slightly more graphic terms. So when Clinton visited the Globe this week, I asked her about that charge.

"Well, obviously I don't agree with that," she replied. "I mean, 22 million new jobs during the 1990s, a lot of those went to rural areas. There was an increase in manufacturing employment during the 1990s, a lot of which went to rural areas."

Clinton, however, wasn't about to get into a hissing match with a Mudcat. "I understand politics, so I understand making charges, but I don't think the evidence is there to support that," she concluded.

All was not lost, though; her answers to subsequent queries on trade gave some insight into Clinton's evolving thinking. It also highlighted her impulse to sidestep controversy and her tendency to shun broad declarations of philosophy in favor of specific, practical ideas.

Although President Clinton was a free-trader, Senator Clinton is harder to pigeonhole. On trade, "I am a strong supporter [of] open borders and lots of reciprocal trade," she said at one point, "but I think . . . that there has been a real imbalance in a lot of our trading agreements because we sign agreements that are not fully implemented the way that they were intended."

Representing Empire State apple farmers has taught her that.

"If you are an apple farmer . . . it is easier for you to get your apples into Great Britain than to get them into Canada," she declared. "The [Canadian] government can say with a straight face it is NAFTA compliant, but provinces, with the full go-ahead . . . from the government, have imposed a lot of different barriers."

The same is true with autos in South Korea, she added. Despite a Clinton-era agreement to reduce nontariff barriers, South Korea has found new ways to keep US vehicles out.

"They issue a regulation, well, the engine size has to be this big, and it just happens to be slightly smaller than what is going to be the smallest engine that could be exported into their market," she said. "So . . . nothing changed."

Thus Clinton favors better, tougher trade agreements. It's hard to argue with that.

But it's just as hard to figure where she stands philosophically on free trade. Overall, trade was very good for the United States in the last century, she declared - before noting that experts like economics icon Paul Samuelson have said that in today's global economy, the country may no longer benefit in the same way.

Just when one hoped Clinton might say where she comes down on that thorny but important topic, there followed this: "I have said we shouldn't have this stale debate between free trade and fair trade. I have called for smart trade. Let's figure out how we can try, as much as possible, to have a win-win trading environment."

Smart trade! Infinitely superior to dumb trade, certainly, particularly as slogans go.

But what makes trade smart? Further, can trade be win-win without being managed, which is to say, no longer free?

Beyond alluding to labor and environmental standards, Clinton gave little hint on any of that.

What if another country's comparative advantage in trading with us is their lower wages?

"Well, then, I think we should lead the world to raising wages," she replied. Certainly a consummation devoutly to be wished - but also one that's likely to prove an elusive goal, particularly in the short term.

Here's the point: Beyond a pervasive pragmatism, you don't get a sharp sense of Clinton's underlying philosophy.

And that, one can't help thinking, is precisely her intent.

Listening to Clinton, I came away with these impressions: She is formidably bright, and well-versed in policy. She is far more personable than her (caricatured) reputation. She is focused like a laser on the middle class - and the middle of the road. Finally, she is highly disciplined about, and skillful at, avoiding stands that could haunt her should she become the Democratic nominee.

Put another way, Hillary Clinton is a consummate politician - in both the good and bad sense of the term.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.