1. . National Lawmaking Powers & the Regulation of U.S. Trade

2. 1. The power to regulate commerce and trade with foreign nations resides in the Congress of the U.S., not with the President, and especially not with the states. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3. 2. It has long been recognized that the President is better situated to handle the day-to-day conduct of trade relations. 3. Distinguish between negotiation of treaties and trade agreements.

7. An Alternative Point of View The Isolationist Myth (December 3rd, 1994) By Patrick J. Buchanan http://buchanan.org/blog/the-isolationist-myth-165 “ But didn’t Smoot-Hawley cause the Depression? Again, myth. The 1929 collapse on Wall Street triggered the Great Depression. The failure of thousands of banks, wiping out a third of America’s savings, caused the Depression to last until WWII, long after the Smoot-Hawley tariffs had been rolled back. . . . All four presidents on Mt. Rushmore were protectionists. . . . No nation has ever risen to pre-eminence through free trade. . . . Now, the indices of national decline are all around us: endless huge trade deficits, falling wages, urban and social decay. But that decline will not be reversed until Americans cease to think of themselves as global citizens, with global duties, and start thinking again of their own country. Smoot and Hawley aren’t responsible for America’s decline. Rather, it is those who make constant sport of them, and who need to be driven from power, if America is to reclaim the lost dream. “

11. CAFTA Signatory Honduras Falls Victim to a Coup Recently ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was in Washington, DC earlier this month and met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Zelaya was roused from bed at gunpoint by the Honduran military, forced on a plane, and flown to Costa Rica in June. Since then, the de facto government has violated civil liberties left and right. . . . The situation in Honduras has a number of important implications: Fair traders have long argued that NAFTA-style deals promote instability and now Honduras, a signatory to CAFTA, has suffered Central America’s first coup since the Cold War. CAFTA was approved in Honduras by local elites, the same interests who are threatened by Zelaya’s progressive policies. The instability in Honduras is an illustration of how NAFTA-style trade agreements can undermine democratic governance in member nations. http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/cafta/index.html