The other Clinton may not support Clintonomics when it comes to trade

ACCORDING to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal opinion poll conducted in 2014, 42 per cent of Americans picked Bill Clinton as the president they admired the most, followed by current president Barack Obama at 18 per cent.

These results are not surprising if one recalls that Mr Clinton oversaw a period of considerable economic growth and expansion during his tenure. Mr Clinton's winning economic policies were driven by a series of policies aka Clintonomics that included focusing on fiscal discipline, eliminating the budget deficit, and maintaining low interest rates. Central to Mr Clinton's economic strategy was an activist trade liberalisation policy that included the passage of trade legislation that allowed the US to boost its exports and grow the economy.

Indeed, Mr Clinton, backed by the centrist wing of the Democratic Party as well as by experienced and able economic advisers such as Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, succeeded in winning congressional approval of the historic North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the normalisation of US trade relationship with China.