Huckabee's trade views worry some business groups

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's rise to prominence in the Republican presidential field is worrying some business groups that question his support for free trade and want more details about his economic plans.

Huckabee, who trailed badly in the polls several months ago, trounced rivals in Iowa's first-in-the-country presidential nominating contest on Thursday.

While Huckabee's campaign Web site provides few details of his views on trade, some of his public statements "sound awfully protectionist," said Nachama Soloveichik, a spokeswoman for Club for Growth, a pro-business advocacy group.

"It's amazing someone is now considered a first-tier candidate, but we know so little about his proposals," Soloveichik said.

The Club for Growth, which Huckabee has described as the "Club for Greed," issued a statement after the Iowa caucus urging voters in next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary "to reject Mike Huckabee and his big-government policies."

Huckabee, a Baptist minister, bounded past former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Iowa Republican caucus with a message that mixed social conservatism with economic populism. Romney had outspent Huckabee in Iowa by a 20-to-1 margin and led the polls there for months until a late Huckabee surge.

I don't want to see our food come from China, our oil come from Saudi Arabia and our manufacturing come from Europe and Asia," the Economist magazine quoted Huckabee as saying on the campaign trail.

Huckabee's Web site says he supports free trade as long as it is fair. It also says globalization can be a "blessing" for consumers by allowing them to buy cheaper goods, but the United States needs to fight foreign trade practices that cost American jobs.