WHEELING, W.Va. -- As he begins a tour of four industrial states, John Kerry says President Bush has failed to enforce trade agreements that protect U.S. workers.
The Democratic presidential candidate said Bush is not taking action to stop jobs from going overseas, such as aggressively filing unfair-trade cases with the World Trade Organization, or WTO.
"To engage and win in the global economy, we must not only open markets, we must ensure a level playing field for American workers," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery today. "As with most economic issues that impact American jobs and American workers, when it comes to enforcing our trade laws, this administration has been asleep on the job."
Kerry's speech kicks off a three-day bus tour through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. The four states combined have lost more than 470,000 manufacturing jobs during Bush's presidency, according to figures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics cited by the Kerry campaign.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2531360