Monday, October 04, 2010

American Thinker: How to Win the Trade War with the Democrats

American Thinker: How to Win the Trade War with the Democrats: "There are three positions on trade when a country is being punched out by mercantilists:


1. Unilateral Free Trade. This is the Republican establishment's pacifist strategy of just taking the punches to afford an example to the rest of the world. This has been U.S. policy for three decades.
2. Protectionism. This is liberal Democrats' 'industrial policy' strategy of protecting government-preferred industries with tariffs and subsidies. President GW Bush did it with respect to steel and was forced by the WTO to back down. President Obama did it with respect to tires produced in China and succeeded in enforcing it.
3. Balanced Trade. This is the conservative pro-free-market strategy of balancing exports with imports in order to defeat the mercantilist strategy of maximizing exports and minimizing imports. It takes advantage of a special WTO rule that lets trade deficit countries impose import duties or limitations in order to bring trade into reasonable balance."

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