We need more but balanced trade, and global standards that protect the rights of workers, consumers and the environment. That requires a crackdown on tax havens, currency manipulation, and deals that allow corporations to trample basic labor rights here and abroad. Finally, we need new policies that allow us to help existing US industries, by having our government buy American, policies that are now outlawed by trade deals. And we need active investment policies that grow new cutting-edge industries, like green energy systems.

Our current national security policies commit us to policing the world. The result costs lives and drains public resources. We need a real security policy that makes military intervention a last resort, and focuses on global threats like climate change, poverty and inequality. We should reduce military budgets and properly support humanitarian programs.

• “A September 2014 Pew poll showed that only 20 percent of Americans think that status quo trade has led to U.S. job creation, while 50 percent of Americans — half of Democrats and more than half of Republicans — say it has spurred job losses. The same poll confirms what Gallup found and reinforces what polls have consistently shown for years: Americans support trade in general but oppose the NAFTA model of trade that has offshored U.S. jobs, spurred massive deficits, stagnated middle-class wages and contributed to unprecedented levels of U.S. income inequality.”
• Americans are split on whether NAFTA has been good or bad for the US (46% say bad, 48% good). (Gallup, 2017)
• A May 2015 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a majority (56%) of the U.S. public supports the concept of “new international trade agreements to promote the sale of American goods abroad.”
• According to a 2017 Gallup poll: “A record-high 72% of Americans see foreign trade as an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports. This is up sharply from 58% last year, after much debate about trade during the presidential election cycle.”
  • “All political party groups show an increase from last year in the view that trade is an economic opportunity. Among Democrats, this view has increased 17 percentage points to 80%, while among Republicans it has risen 16 points to 66%. The increase is smaller among independents — up eight points to 71%.”
• In 2014, 73% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans wanted the government to “close loopholes that allow corporations and wealthy individuals to avoid paying U.S. taxes by shifting income to overseas tax havens.” (Hart Research Associates, 2013)“76% of Democrats, 69% of Republicans, and 80% of Independents disapprove of corporate tax inversions when they were asked “Do you approve or disapprove of tax inversions, a practice where one company becomes a subsidiary of another company in a foreign country for the purpose of reducing its taxes?” (Morning Consult poll, 2014)
• “82% of Americans believe that “reform[ing] the tax system by closing corporate loopholes and limiting deductions for the wealthy” should be used to “reduce the budget deficit and make new investments” rather than to “reduce tax rates on corporations and the wealthy.” (Hart Research Associates Poll, 2013)
• 79% of Americans want to “close tax loopholes to ensure that American corporations pay as much on foreign profits as they do on profits in the United States.” (Hart Research Associates Poll, 2013)
• 73% of Americans support “raising taxes on businesses that move manufacturing jobs overseas.” (ABC News/Washington Post poll, Feb 2012)
• 67% of Americans believes that “we should end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs and profits offshore, and level the playing field for small businesses that create jobs in America.” (Hart Research Associates Poll 2013)
• 68% of Americans believe Trump’s trade war with China would be bad for the US economy. And 64% do not agree with Trump’s statement that a trade war can be easily won. (Quinnipiac University Poll, April 6-9 2018).
• Most Americans are not convinced that defense spending should increase. A Gallup Poll in Feb 2018 indicated that 34% of all respondents believed too much is being spent on defense, while 31% said it is fine where it is.
• 58% of Americans are opposed to the Trump budgets increase on military spending amid cuts to the State Department, the EPA, and other non-defense agencies (CNN/ORC Poll, 2017).