The Bush administration just rolled a hand grenade into the middle of the Republican runoff for US Senate in South Carolina.
The race pits free trader Jim Demint against johnny come lately protectionist David Beasley.
Today the Bush administration rejected a bid to extend trade protections on textiles and the garment industy.
The decision could cost the jobs of more than 600,000 textile workers in the United States and 30 million jobs in developing nations around the world.
From the NYT Article:
Textile industries that were established in poor countries to take advantage of special quotas given by the United States or Europe are among those that the officials said would be threatened by the loss of special access to those huge markets.
Industry officials said that China and India could swamp the global market once quotas are lifted, destroying as many as 30 million jobs around the world and putting some of the world's poorest nations at risk.
"We need fair trade so the global economy can be disciplined," Ziya Sukun, a representative of the Turkish textile and garment exports associations, said in a telephone news conference on Wednesday with American industry representatives.
"This is not protectionism but a fight against a monopoly by China," he said.
The Bush decision has brought a quick rebuke from Democratic Senate candidate Inez Tenenbaum.
"While South Carolina has lost 70,000 jobs in three years, China's textile industry is booming, now accounting for 21 percent of textile imports into the U.S.," Tenenbaum said.
"Without a limit on these imports, China will quickly become the largest fabric supplier in the
world, costing even more jobs for hard-working families in South Carolina."
"I urge the Bush Administration to consider the impact on South Carolina workers and reconsider its decision to let these quotas expire," Tenenbaum said.
Inez has a jobs plan that would get tough with China.
Inez also has launched a petition to stop the CAFTA trade agreement that will export even more jobs.