Free Trade Stops Wars

A couple of years back, second season of the West Wing, they did an episode in which Toby Ziegler, the Communications Director for the White House, had to give a speech to WTO protestors. He listed all the things that free trade makes cheaper, and then says, "It lowers prices, it raises income. You see what I did with 'lowers' and 'raises' there? It's called the science of listener attention. We did repetition, we did floating opposites, and now you end with the one that's not like the others. Ready? Free trade stops wars. And that's it. Free trade stops wars! And we figure out a way to fix the rest. One world, one peace. I'm sure I've seen that on a sign somewhere."

Paul Krugman over at the New York Times makes a similar point today on the benefits of Free Trade. "Let me spare you the usual economist's sermon on the virtues of free trade, except to say this: although old fallacies about international trade have been making a comeback lately (yes, Senator Charles Schumer, that means you), it is as true as ever that the U.S. economy would be poorer and less productive if we turned our back on world markets. Furthermore, if the United States were to turn protectionist, other countries would follow. The result would be a less hopeful, more dangerous world.

Yet it's bad economics to pretend that free trade is good for everyone, all the time. "Trade often produces losers as well as winners," declares the best-selling textbook in international economics (by Maurice Obstfeld and yours truly). The accelerated pace of globalization means more losers as well as more winners; workers' fears that they will lose their jobs to Chinese factories and Indian call centers aren't irrational."

See that's one of the differences between Republicans and Free Trade Democrats right there. I know a lot of liberals see no difference; but in theory at least the Free Trade Democrats, like Clinton and, presumably, like Kerry, are about solving the problems of Free Trade as opposed to the Republican strategy of ignoring them.

Like Toby said ". . . we figure out a way to fix the rest." And that's Mr. Kerry's job, but it's also our job. It's easier, I admit, to accept Free Trade uncritically or to reject Free Trade uncritically. But it's better to adopt the more difficult task of reforming Free Trade so that it benefits all Americans instead of just those on the top of the pile.