Marco Rubio Goes to Bat for Free Trade

With the World Trade Organization (WTO) holding a meeting in Bali last week to push global free-trade agreements, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., praised the efforts.

The successful WTO negotiations in Bali mark an important first step toward reducing global trade barriers in the 21st century, Rubio said on Saturday. American entrepreneurs and workers can compete with anyone on a level economic playing field. Expanding free and fair trade is a national imperative that will create job opportunities for our own people and help others around the world rely less on foreign assistance and benefit more from the free-enterprise system.

Rubio called for increased free-trade agreements across the globe.

While this successful global trade deal is a step in the right direction, we should also continue pursuing regional and bilateral trade agreements such as the TPP with Asia and Latin America and the TTIP with Europe that hold enormous economic promise and where overcoming some of the tougher trade obstacles are more realistic in the shorter term, Rubio said.

Still, Rubio took aim at efforts to lower trade barriers with Communist Cuba.

While overall the WTO agreement is welcome news, I am concerned that U.S. officials reportedly met with Cuban representatives in Bali to discuss the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, Rubio said. There should be no question that the U.S. will not end the trade embargo until the Castro regime releases its political prisoners and holds free and fair elections.