Fair Trade Foolishness

Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post makes many important points:

But there are also larger truths. One is that China's surging exports have (so far) come mostly at the expense of other Asian countries. Goods once shipped from Taiwan or Thailand now arrive from China.

Another truth is that U.S. jobs are destroyed for many reasons -- new domestic competition, new technologies, changing consumer tastes, the business cycle. A remarkable statistic: Every three months, 7 million to 8 million U.S. jobs disappear and roughly an equal or greater number are created.

Trade is a relatively minor factor in job loss. It is, however, an easy scapegoat. It enables critics to blame foreigners and suggest a solution: restrict trade. "Economic change is disruptive," says economist Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College. "If the cause is technology, you can't do much about it." Globalization becomes a convenient explanation for many economic discontents, from job insecurity to squeezed living standards.

To read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901271.html