Editing Robert Reich (section)

===NAFTA===
{{Main|North American Free Trade Agreement}}
Throughout his first year in office, Reich was a leading proponent of the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA), which was negotiated by the [[George H. W. Bush administration]] and supported by Clinton following two side agreements negotiated to satisfy labor and environmental groups. Reich served as leading public and private spokesman for the Clinton administration against organized labor, who continued to oppose the Agreement as a whole.

In July 1993, Reich said that the unions were "just plain wrong" to suggest NAFTA would cause a loss of American employment and predicted that "given the pace of growth of the Mexican automobile market over the next 15 years, I would say that more automobile jobs would be created in the United States than would be lost to Mexico... [T]he American automobile industry will grow substantially, and the net effect will be an increase in automobile jobs." He further argued that trade liberalization following World War II had led to the "biggest increase in jobs and standard of living among the industrialized nations [in] history.
"<ref>{{cite news|title=Reich: Labor 'Plain Wrong' On Nafta|last=Newkirk|first=William|newspaper=[[The Chicago Tribune]]|date=14 July 1993|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-07-14-9307140084-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719210106/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-07-14-9307140084-story.html |archive-date=2022-07-19 |access-date=19 July 2022}}</ref>

In a September 1993 to the [[Center for National Policy]] think tank, Reich said, "Great change demands great flexibility -- the capacity to adapt quickly and continuously, to change jobs, change directions, gain new skills. But the sad irony is that massive change on the scale we are now facing may be inviting the opposite reaction: a politics of preservation, grounded in fear." Reich specifically said opposition to NAFTA "has little to do with the agreement and much to do with the pervasive anxieties arising from economic changes that are already affecting Americans."<ref>{{cite news|title=LABOR CHIEF CHASTISES OPPONENTS OF NAFTA|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1993/09/02/labor-chief-chastises-opponents-of-nafta/cb71e065-932d-4a1d-8196-ceff3b999bd9/|newspaper=Washington Post|date=September 1, 1993|access-date=19 Jul 2022|last=Swoboda|first=Frank}}</ref> In October, Reich addressed the biannual [[AFL-CIO]] convention in San Francisco, where [[Economic Policy Institute]] economist Thea Lea mocked Reich's view as a "[[Field of Dreams|field-of-dreams]]" theory of job creation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Unions Gird for War Over Trade Pact|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/04/us/unions-gird-for-war-over-trade-pact.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=4 Oct 1993|last=Kilborn|first=Peter T.|page=A14}}</ref> His remarks were generally well-received, though only briefly mentioning NAFTA; he focused on the Clinton administration's approach to the [[National Labor Relations Board]] and day-to-day business regulation and management-labor relations.<ref>{{cite news|title=REICH NOT BASHFUL WHEN IT COMES TO WOOING BIG LABOR
|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-10-06-9310060004-story.html|date=6 Oct 1993|last=Franklin|first=Stephen|newspaper=[[The Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=19 Jul 2022}}</ref>

In advance of the final vote, Reich personally lobbied members of Congress to support the Agreement.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/10/11/the-tide-seems-to-have-shifted-in-favor-of-nafta/|title=The tide seems to have shifted in favor of NAFTA|date=11 Oct 1993|newspaper=[[The Tampa Bay Times]]|last=Rowen|first=Hobart|quote='But now, there's a big-time effort for NAFTA under way,' says a Democratic congressman who's been wooed by the White House. 'I've talked to the president _ and they get me at home, too. I've had phone calls from [Labor Secretary Robert] Reich, [Commerce Secretary Ron] Brown and others.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=REICH: JOBS PLAN WON'T HELP NAFTA
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/10/21/reich-jobs-plan-wont-help-nafta/3f3dde38-b904-46ec-84e3-42eac9ea82f2/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|last=Swoboda|first=Frank|date=21 Oct 1993|access-date=19 Jul 2022}}</ref> The bill passed the House 234–200 on November 17 and the Senate 61–38 on November 20; President Clinton signed it in to law on December 8.

Over twenty years later, in opposing the [[Trans-Pacific Partnership]] as "NAFTA on steroids", Reich repudiated his position. He further admitted that he regretted "not doing more to strengthen [NAFTA]'s labor and environmental side-agreements", though he denied supporting an expedited "fast-track" legislative process without opportunity for amendment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/01/29/robert-reich-for-fast-track-before-he-was-against-it/|title=Robert Reich: For 'fast track' before he was against it?|last=Kamen|first=Al|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=29 Jan 2014}}</ref>