U.S. Trade Policy

A critical review of recent U.S. trade policies that have failed to enforce sufficient reciprocity and overall trade balance, with suggestions for policies that foster a more balanced and realistic pattern of world trade growth.

Shows American trade policy has become more protectionist, and that unilateral confrontations could lead to destruction of free trade.

Despite the passage of NAFTA and other recent free trade victories in the United States, former U.S. trade official Alfred Eckes warns that these developments have a dark side. Opening America's Market offers a bold critique of U.S. trade policies, concentrating on the evolution of those policies over the last sixty years and placing them within a broad historical perspective. While many believe the United States rose to world leadership on the strength of its commitment to free trade, Eckes shows the facts are quite different.

Three central dilemmas are explained in this book - the unequal distribution of income and wealth created by international trade, the tradeoff among competing values that trade requires, and the relationship between economic and foreign policy goals.

The author argues that a tax on imports commensurately creates a tax on exports, and that trade imbalances reflect capital flows between countries.

Regulation of world trade is beyond the control of any one nation. Moreover, Western capitalism is losing its influence in trade negotiations. Policy makers must be alerted to these changes and adjust to them creatively. Fischer argues that the United States needs allies in the new era of world trade, that the private sector is increasingly influential in driving the world trade agenda, and that trade globalization creates a new paradigm that supplants traditional national competition.

The increased integration of the American economy with that of the rest of the world has been controversial and a source of concern. Visions and Revisions examines the available evidence to provide insight into the many issues involved.

This collection of essays offers critical perspectives on current issues in the international economy. Divided into four parts, U.S. Trade Policy and Global Growth discusses managed trade and international interdependence, the effect of trade on domestic wages and employment, the costs and benefits of trade protection, and likely effects of NAFTA. The collection also addresses the U.S. trade deficit and presents a Keynesian proposal for international monetary reform. Part IV focuses on issues facing developing countries in the areas of trade, industrial, and financial policy. Rejecting the dogma that pure free-market policies should be accepted as articles of religious faith, in either international trade or domestic policy, the contributors search for trade and macro policies that can achieve balanced growth with high employment and an equitable distribution of income in both the United States and the rest of the world.

Conti examines presidential rhetoric on trade, providing a detailed analysis of presidential trade arguments and strategies throughout American history, with a concentration on the rhetoric of contemporary presidents from Reagan to Clinton.