Last night was the third and final face off between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. This debate was held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and it focused on foreign policy. So we are talking about ways in which the United States interacts with the rest of the world. Election Day is exactly two weeks away. Candidates will still be out at the events on the campaign trail. But last night was the last chance they had to present some of their ideas to a large audience all at once. Here is some what happened. 

 

I absolutely believe that America has a responsibility and the privilege of helping defend freedom and promote the principles that make the world more peaceful, and those principals include human rights, human dignity, free enterprise, freedom of expression, elections because when there are elections people tend to vote for peace. They don’t vote for war. So we want to promote those principals around the world. We recognize that there are places of conflict in the world. We want to end those conflicts to the extend humanly possible. But in order to be able to fulfill our role in the world, America must be strong. 

 

America remains the one indispensable nation and the world needs a strong America and it is stronger now than when I came into office. Because we ended the war in Iraq we were able to refocus our attention on not only the terrorist threat, but also beginning a transition process in Afghanistan. It also allowed us to refocus on alliances, relationships that have been neglected for a decade. And Governor Romney, our alliances have never been stronger. In Asia, in Europe, in Africa, with Israel where we have unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation, including dealing with the Iranian threat. 

 

Well, one of the topics that came up during last night’s debate was outsourcing. It’s when a company has a different business do some kind of work. So, instead of doing it themselves, companies pay someone else to do it. Outsourcing can help companies save money and maybe help keep cost down on the products that they sell. But if US company outsources its work to a different country, it means those jobs aren’t being done by American workers. Maggie Lake has more on the impact of outsourcing and the presidential candidates’ plans to do something about it. 

 

Thank you.

 

Whether on the campaign trail.

 

If there is an outsourcer-in-chief, it’s the president of the United States. 

 

Or amid the barrage of political ads on TV. 

 

Mitt Romney’s firms were pioneers at helping companies outsource their manufacturing to countries including China. 

 

Outsourcing is a hot button issue again in presidential politics. In states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan where scores of factory jobs have been lost, it is a deeply emotional issue. 

 

They do a lot of focus grouping, and polling and testing. And what they find is that this is very resonant. 

 

In recent years, the manufacturing sector of the US has been hit particularly hard. Over five and a half million jobs lost between 2000 and 2009. A million alone to China. But that tide may be turning as companies rethink their commitment to lower wage countries. 

 

Wages in China are, you know, topping $3 an hour. Wages will probably be something around $6 an hour or so in 2015. It starts to become competitive with the US, you have the intellectual property risk, and being far away from consumers means you are not on top of the trends. 

 

General Electric and Caterpillar are just a few of the companies who have recently brought some of their production back to the US. Economists warn the manufacturing revival has a long way to go, but both candidates are pledging they can get the job done. Mitt Romney continues to call for lower taxes for businesses, just for investment. And tougher trade relations with China. President Obama is also calling for tax incentives for companies that bring jobs back to the US and touting the auto industry bailout which Romney opposed. Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.