Roemer makes jobs pitch

Former Gov. Buddy Roemer, who is running a long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination, unveiled his jobs plan today in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. He described open trade with China as “the biggest disaster of our American economy,” according to the online magazine Politico. “Global free trade without tariffs was our idea, not the Chinese’s,” Roemer said. “Global free trade became the sacred cow of American economists, its largest corporations and its own government. Global free trade did not work because other countries did not accept it. They put up barriers to our products while the U.S. allowed foreign unfair competition to kill our industries. We got out of balance.” Roemer called for an elimination of the foreign tax credit and championed tax deductions for companies that hire American workers and buy American products. And he discussed putting an adjustment fee on foreign countries importing goods to the U.S. “equal to the unfair advantage they gain.” Roemer says he will be campaigning in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida in the upcoming weeks and is set to make an appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show next week. Read the Politico story here.