The governor of Kentucky said Thursday that the Democrats' decisive win in the U.S. midterm election will not cause any significant change in American trade policies.
"Lots of trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, were done by Democrats under the administration of President Bill Clinton. The world is flat now and we cannot go back," said Gov. Ernie Fletcher during a visit to The Japan Times.
The Republican governor acknowledged there is a large number of trade protectionists in the U.S. business community but said that American trade policy is no longer a partisan issue between Democrats and Republicans.
He said Toyota Motor Corp.'s Kentucky manufacturing plant is a symbol of the state's growing business relations with Japan.
Toyota has been in Kentucky, along with two of the Big Three U.S. automakers, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., for more than 20 years. There are about another 150 Japanese manufacturers operating in the state, employing some 37,000 people, the governor said.
"Japanese companies are now part of Kentucky's culture and economy," Fletcher said.
