Call it “Outsourcing-gate, Round II.”

A day after her own campaign’s outsourcing snafu, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Inez Tenenbaum pointed out her Republican opponent’s campaign T-shirts were made in Honduras.

Tenenbaum on Tuesday accused Jim DeMint of choosing to “slap American textile workers in the face” by investing in “foreign labor markets.”

“The difference between these two candidates is Inez wants federal action to reduce outsourcing and protect South Carolinians,” her spokesman Adam Kovacevich said.

But DeMint says he has no problem with that — globalization is better economic policy.

DeMint campaign manager Terry Sullivan said the design and screening work for DeMint’s shirts was done in the United States.

The shirts are an example of the global economy in which American firms have to compete, he said, where work is done in several countries.

Sullivan said Tenenbaum’s campaign was trying to distract attention from news that Tenenbaum had held a conference call Monday run by workers in Canada.

“This is the political games they’d rather play,” Sullivan said.

Tenenbaum’s campaign used Norfolk, Va.-based Jensen Activewear for its T-shirts, Kovacevich said.

Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent, and DeMint, a congressman from Greenville, are competing to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings.

Whether to protect American jobs from foreign competition is a major issue for South Carolina, which has lost 50,000 textile jobs since 1997, partly because of trade.

Tenenbaum says she wants to protect American companies by slowing down global trade and cracking down on countries that are breaking trade agreements.

DeMint is an unabashed “free trade” advocate, who supports fewer restrictions on trade.

Most economists agree with DeMint, said College of Charleston economist Frank Hefner. Fewer restrictions mean goods are cheaper and more available.

“Anyone who is against trade really is arguing we should pay higher taxes to subsidize someone’s job,” Hefner said.

This is not a new issue in S.C. politics. In 1990, Hollings advocated a trade policy to protect S.C. textile makers. In an interview, ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson asked Hollings whether he had bought suits made in Korea.

Hollings replied he had found them a few blocks from the place “where you got that wig, Sam.”

Reach Talhelm at (803) 771-8339 or jtalhelm@thestate.com.