trade
Return
to Common Sense
January 6, 2009
Section: Foreign – Trade
“Global free trade is essential for American economic growth
and it rewards those partner countries that embrace free markets with economic
and job growth.”
Philosophy (Background, Issues,
Objectives):
Commerce
Department International Trade Administration (ITA) promotes trade and
investment.
- ITA represents in trade
negotiations, bilateral and multilateral discussions, and the rulemaking
process.
- ITA stimulates innovation and
investment, enhances economic growth, and supports U.S.
industries.
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
tracks imports and exports by date, type, and country.
U.S. is the world’s
largest trading nation, and a clear beneficiary of free trade.
- World Trade Organization (WTO)
global trade talks seek consensus on transnational trade issues.
o WTO and bilateral Free Trade
Agreements (FTA) increase access.
o Globalization and free trade
undermines the economic basis of terrorism.
o Trade barriers and agricultural
subsidies are key discussion issues.
- American security is enhanced by
free trade as countries with trade relationships likely to cooperate.
- A growing trade deficit is
generally a sign of a healthy, expanding economy.
- Countries that have liberalized
trade have seen growth rates rise, while closed economies lagged.
United States has had great success
expanding Free Trade in this hemisphere.
- NAFTA includes Canada and
Mexico.
o The trade deficit with NAFTA countries
grew from $70 billion in 2000 to $140 billion in 2008.
§
$58
billion of deficit increase has been in energy imports from Mexico and Canada.
§
Agricultural
and manufactured goods sales to NAFTA countries have basically kept pace with
imports.
o Mexico is benefiting greatly from NAFTA.
§
Mexico is America’s second largest
trading partner.
§
U.S. imports from Mexico
increased from $48 billion to $216 billion from 1993 to 2006.
§
U.S. exports to Mexico increased from $52 billion
to $156 billion from 1993 to 2006.
§
Mexico is #1 source of U.S. illegal
immigration.
o Customs Union may be appropriate for
Canada FTA for common external trade policy.
§
Canada is America’s #1 customer and
energy supplier.
§
Canada’s industries enjoy no currency
advantage.
§
Canadiens
are not flooding the U.S.
marketplace with cheap labor or social disruption.
- CAFTA includes Dominican Republic,
Costa Rica,
El Salvador,
Guatamala,
Honduras,
and Nicaragua.
There
is some trepidation about Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
(SPP):
·
Breadth
and depth of agreement seems more like a Treaty, requiring Senate approval.
·
“North American Union”
and “NAFTA Superhighway” are both urban legends.
o Fear of replacing American dollar with
worthless new currency “The Amero.”
o Closer economic integration could lead
to lowered immigration barriers.
Seven
FTAs with 11 countries have dramatically improved trade from 1999 to 2007:
·
US
merchandise exports to these countries increased by 75.1%.
·
US
merchandise exports to Chile
increased by 170%.
·
US
merchandise exports to CAFTA increased by 78.5%.
·
US
trade balance with CAFTA improved from $2.8 billion deficit to $3.7 billion
surplus.
·
US
merchandise exports increased to Singapore by 61.8%; to Jordan by 211%;
to Australia
by 62.5%; to Morocco
by 137.3%; to Bahrain
by 69.9%.
Principles:
The
less government intervention translates into a better economy.
- Free trade allows the flow of
jobs and revenues freely across international borders.
- Strong currencies encourage
investments overseas, while weak currency encourage
investments here.
Recommendations:
Integrate
all agency opinions (State, Intelligence, Defense, UN, USAID)
into a unified foreign policy.
- Reduce U.S.
agricultural trade barriers to promote greater efficiency in U.S.
industry and agriculture.
Seek
additional partners in bilateral Free Trade Agreements, including labor
standards requirements.
- Extend President’s Trade
Promotion Authority (TPA).
- Require swift vote on Free Trade
Agreement approval.
- Sign Free Trade Agreements with
Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
- Sign Free Trade Agreements with New Zealand,
Switzerland,
Malaysia,
South African Customs Union,
South Korea,
Thailand,
Oman,
and United Arab
Republics.
- Ratify Permanent Normal Trading Relations (PNTR) with Russia.
Maintain
U.S.
leadership in WTO round of multinational trade negotiations.
- Push for the elimination of trade
barriers, subsidies, and other impediments to free trade.
- Enact legislation to offset VAT
imbalances, despite WTO disapproval.
References:
“Does free trade breed poverty and pollution?”
by Steve Chapman dated March
24, 2002 published by Chicago Tribune.
“North American Union:
Deconstructing the U.S.”
by Diane Alden dated June
16, 2006 published by News Max at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/15/132429.shtml .
“On the Road Again: Four Goals for the New
U.S. Trade Representative” by Tim Kane dated June 16, 2006 published by The
Heritage Foundation on http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/wm1130.cfm .
“North American Union:
Coup d’etat American Style” by Diane
Alden dated June 17, 2006
published by News Max at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/16/141829.shtml .
“North American Union:
Remaking Three Nations” by Diane Alden dated July 4, 2006 published by News Max at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/3/181336.shtml .
“U.S. Trade Policy Tracker” by Anthony
Kim and Daniella Markheim
dated July 7, 2006
published by The Heritage Foundation on http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg1949.cfm .
“Foreign Direct Investment: Under Assault”
by Stuart Anderson dated July
20, 2006 published by National Review Online at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZThhOWU4NTRiY2U3NmFhMGE3MTVkMTY1NzU1NDg2MjQ= .
“Security and Prosperity Partnership a
Constitutional Override” by Geoff Metcalf dated October 30, 2006 published by News
Max at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/10/30/85705.shtml .
“Permanent Normal
Trade Relations for Russia
Would Benefit the U.S.
and Russia”
by Daniella Markheim and
Ariel Cohen dated December
13, 2006 published by The Heritage Foundation at http://author.heritage.org/Research/RussiaandEurasia/wm1286.cfm .
“Michael Medved
Loses His Cool Over North American Union”
by Jerome R. Corsi dated January 2, 2007 published by Human Events
Online at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18721 .
“There Isn’t Going to Be a North
American Union” by John Hawkins
dated January 10, 2007
published by Free
Republic at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1765258/posts?page=9 .
“Reauthorize Trade Promotion Authority
Without New Restrictions” by Danielle Markheim
dated January 12, 2007
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/wm1307.cfm .
“Plan for superhighway ripped as ‘urban
legend’” by Jerome R. Corsi dated January 26, 2007 published by
World Net Daily at http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53950 .
“Free Trade and Funny Math” by
Patrick J. Buchanan dated February
27, 2007 published by Human Events Online at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19590 .
“Free Trade is Dead, Long Live Free Trade”
by Tim Kane dated March 27,
2007 published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/wm1409.cfm .
“Free-Trade Hypocrisy” by Tom
Brewton dated March 30, 2007
published by American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/article/18190 .
“Globalization in a Nutshell” by
Mark W. Hendrickson dated April
4, 2007 published by Front Page Magazine at http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27630 .
“Why Free Trade Works for America”
by Daniella Markheim dated April 16, 2007 published by
The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg2024.cfm .
“Value-added taxes put U.S.
manufacturers at disadvantage” by Phyllis Schlafly
dated April 23, 2007
published by Town Hall at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2007/04/23/value-added_taxes_put_us_manufacturers_at_disadvantage .
“Free-Trade Hypocrisy” by Thomas E.
Brewton dated April 30, 2007
published by Intellectual Conservative at http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/04/30/free-trade-hypocrisy/ .
“Canada’s Problem: Domestic Trade Barriers”
by Christopher Sands dated May
22, 2007 published by American Magazine at http://www.american.com/archive/2007/may-0507/canada2019s-problem-domestic-trade-barriers .
“The Freedom Connection” by Susan
Ariel Aaronson dated June
11, 2007 published by American Magazine at http://www.american.com/archive/2007/june-0607/the-freedom-connection .
“In Global Trade, Labor Standards Have a Long
History” by Robert Rogowsky and Eric Chyn dated July
18, 2007 published by American Magazine at http://www.american.com/archive/2007/july-0707/in-global-trade-labor-standards-have-a-long-history .
“The NAFTA Superhighway” by
Christopher Hayes dated August
27, 2007 published by The Nation at http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070827&s=hayes .
“The Non-Existent North American Union” by John Hawkins dated September 14, 2007 published by Town
Hall at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2007/09/14/the_non-existent_north_american_union .
“Does SPP + TTC + NAFTA = NAU?” by
William D. Bailey dated October
19, 2007 published by American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/article/20653 .
“Globalization Is A Reality – Deal With
It” by Robert Samuelson dated October 23, 2007 published by Investors
Business Daily at http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=278028687267492 .
“US will retake economic superpower crown”
by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard dated November 11, 2007 published by UK Telegraph at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=4PQHLOYRFAZNRQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/money/2007/11/12/ccview112.xml&site=1&page=0 .
“Productivity Growth, Not Trade, Is Cutting
Manufacturing Jobs” by Terry Miller dated November 27, 2007 published by The
Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/wm1709.cfm .
“Decoupling Myths Expose Trade Deficit Myths”
by John Tamny dated January 31, 2008 published by Real Clear
Politics at http://www.realclearmarkets.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/01/decoupling_myths_expose_trade.html .
“Free Trade: The Real Economic Stimulus”
by James M. Roberts dated February
29, 2008 published by Front Page Magazine at http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5B0F6C53-5D17-4ADA-B847-37D705FF9777 .
“It’s time to rethink NAFTA”
by Diane Francis dated March
4, 2008 published by National Post at http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=072f3c08-c971-46ec-86a8-ae0842f1a037&k=94917 .
“NAFTA Nonsense” by Daniel Gross
dated March 4, 2008
published by Slate Magazine at http://www.slate.com/id/2185739/ .
“What NAFTA Trade Deficit?” by John
Engler dated April 21, 2008 published by The Wall Street Journal at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120873451908929781.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries .
“Free Trade Agreements: Promoting Prosperity
in 2008” by Daniella Markheim
dated May 2, 2008
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg2132.cfm .
“The Fast-Track Trade War” by
Claude Barfield dated May 7,
2008 published by The American Magazine at http://www.american.com/archive/2008/may-05-08/the-fast-track-trade-war .
“An Act to End Trade” by Daniella Markheim dated July 6, 2009
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/tradeandeconomicfreedom/wm2524.cfm .
“Global Trade Liberalization Continues, But
Risks Abound” by Daniella Markheim and Terry Miller dated September 28, 2009
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/tradeandeconomicfreedom/bg2320.cfm .
“Free Trade Leaps in Year of Tiger”
dated January 5, 2010 published by Investor’s Business Daily at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=517126
.
