Senator warns against isolationism

Speaking to dozens of local business leaders at the Applied Materials North Kalispell campus Monday morning, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., mixed optimism for Montana’s future as an up-and-coming hub for technology-driven trade with concern about an increase in “isolationist rhetoric” in national politics.

“I think Montana is uniquely situated,” Daines said. “That is a competitive advantage for millennials, who want to have their cake and eat it, too. They want to backpack, they want to fish, they want to camp, they want clean water, clean air, good schools. Well, they get that in Montana, and they have a chance to work at places like Applied Materials here.”

However, Daines noted the lack of movement on the Transpacific Trade Partnership, a massive trade agreement endorsed by many U.S. business groups but still awaiting congressional approval.

Stopping short of throwing his support behind the trade deal, Daines instead embraced the Trade Promotion Authority, which he said would expand the president’s power to negotiate trade deals with other countries.

“I’m concerned about the isolationist rhetoric that is going on right now; I think it will not serve our interests as Americans,” he said. “It will create tremendous inflationary pressures, it could create a tremendous drag on our economy and ultimately we lose without having an ability for American companies to get their products overseas.”

President Barack Obama has made passage of the agreement one of his priorities, and it has received support from leaders in both parties. However, many rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans in Congress have criticized the trade agreement as another potential blow to the nation’s blue-collar workers and have compared it to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been blamed for domestic manufacturing jobs moving overseas in the past two decades.

Daines, who has years of experience in the state’s surging information technology industry, also spoke in favor of increasing protections for intellectual property.

His comments followed those of Applied Materials Vice President Bill McClintock, who listed those protections as one of the manufacturing company’s main concerns.

“If we’re spending $1.5 billion on research and development, we have 10,000 patents and we want to protect those patents,” McClintock said. “Sometimes that’s a tricky thing if you’re doing business outside the U.S.”

The general manager of a unit that has more than 400 employees, McClintock added that the majority of his company’s business comes from Europe and Asia.

Daines also criticized U.S. policies that double-tax profits of American companies operating abroad, claiming the disincentive to send profits home is depriving the U.S. economy of $2 billion to $3 billion “sitting on the balance sheets” overseas.

He advocated for a territorial tax bill in which foreign profits are taxed only in the country where they are earned, which Daines said would encourage those companies to reinvest the money domestically.

“It could be the greatest private sector-driven stimulus at no cost to the taxpayer,” Daines said.

At the end of Monday’s meeting, Daines was awarded the Spirit of Enterprise award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.