Free Trade Is Good for Both Americans and Non-Americans

Trade headlines are getting more and more absurd. The Commerce Department apparently  will investigate whether car imports impair national security and thus require a 25% tariff, which one trade lawyer said  would prompt “pant-wetting laughter — followed by retaliation” among U.S. trading partners. Although maybe, as the linked article suggests, this is all just to put pressure on Mexico during the NAFTA talks, so who knows if it means anything. It’s very hard to say what is going on or where any of this is going. Perhaps, then, this would be a good time to take a break from the headlines and consider some more general trade issues.I was reading a recent New Yorker article entitled “Is Capitalism a Threat to Democracy?” and, not surprisingly, I came across a lot of points that irritated me. In crafting a letter to the editor, it occurred to me that if I wanted it published, it would be better to focus on just one issue rather than send them a long list of complaints. Here ’s the letter I sent, as published:In Caleb Crain ’s essay about whether capitalism poses a threat to democracy, he discusses Robert Kuttner’s views on the impact of free trade but leaves out a key consideration (Books, May 14th). Beyond the impact that free trade has on Americans, its benefits for the developing world should not be ignored. Hu ndreds of millions of people have been helped out of poverty by an American-led system of trade liberalization. Perhaps this will not convince Am...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs