Smart Talk: Trade impact on PA; Penn State preview
What to look for on Smart Talk Friday, September 2, 2016:
This week, as part of the ongoing collaborative project A Nation Engaged, NPR and WITF will feature stories and conversations around the theme “What is America’s place in the world?” On Friday’s Smart Talk, we’re discussing how trade deals have impacted and continue to affect Pennsylvania.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has blamed trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA as one of the culprits for Americans losing jobs. It was designed to open trade between Mexico, Canada and the United States. NAFTA was negotiated by President H.W. Bush and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Citing his business background, Trump has said he would renegotiate past trade agreements and doesn’t support the Trans-Pacific Partnership currently being considered. Democrat Hillary Clinton has not been enthusiastic about NAFTA and reversed her support for the TPP.
The questions are: what impact has NAFTA and international trade had on Pennsylvania. The state has lost manufacturing jobs but how much of the job loss was due to those jobs going overseas? What about Pennsylvania products? How did exports fare?
Trade’s impact on Pennsylvania is the topic of Friday’s Smart Talk.
Our guests are Fariborz Ghadar, a distinguished scholar and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and founding director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State University and David Patti, Principal at David Patti Strategic Consulting and former head of the Pennsylvania Businesss Council.
Read more about trade and Pennsylvania from WITF’s Keystone Crossroads
Also, Penn State opens its football season Saturday against Kent State. Audrey Snyder, who covers the Nittany Lions for the Pittsburgh Sports Report, provides a preview of the 2016 season.
