Marco Rubio Uses iPhone to Argue for Free Trade

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has been waving the banner for free trade in recent days and that proved to be the case on Wednesday at a meeting of the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Holding a hearing on Economic Engagement in the Asia-Pacific Region, Rubio insisted free trade helped American workers and the economy.

I get resistance from people who believe that free trade is a destroyer of American jobs, Rubio said. Now obviously free trade has to be fair. ... Our values of openness have allowed the Chinese to invest here. But when we try to reciprocate, there are all kinds of impediments to that. And thats always been a challenge for us on multiple fronts, including on the trade front. But in specific, on the issue of imports, theres this idea that imports into the U.S., in and of themselves, destroy American jobs ... in fact, there are also jobs created through imports from offloading ... thats an issue I get a lot when I go out and talk about the need to expand trade opportunities, not just with Asia, but with the entire world.

Rubio also focused on the supply chain for his iPhone. It says here it was innovated, designed in California, but assembled in China, Rubio said. Somebody built this phone over there, and then they had to ship it here. They had to offload it at a port of entry. Those are American jobs. Then they had to be transported from the port of entry to a distribution center. Again, another set of American jobs. And then from that distribution center, there were jobs there, they were shipped out to the retailers -- another group of American jobs. And then at the retail level theres somebody selling it -- another set of American jobs, at the retail level. And then, whoever buys these things is paying less than they normally would, which means whatever money youre saving on this -- the difference between how much it would have cost to do it somewhere else and do it where its happening now, and what you actually pay -- that difference is now available to spend somewhere else because you didnt spend it on this. ... My guess is that all those jobs down that supply network, that I just described, probably pay better than some of the people that were building this [iPhone].

Rubio also weighed in on Chinas role in regard to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

My understanding of the region is that most if not all of the countries would like stronger integration with China, but on a set of rules based on freedom: freedom of commerce and freedom of navigation, and mutual reciprocity on rules, etc.," Rubio said. Not on the set of rules that China would like to impose. So really, to the extent that there is anybody excluding anyone, its Chinese policymakers that have decided to potentially exclude themselves from this and other arrangements, because they dont like the rules. The rules they want are actually much more one-sided to the benefit of China, and the detriment of their neighbors and perhaps the rest of the world.