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Commentary Page 12 Street Roots • Dec. 29. 2017-Jan. 4, 2018 We can fix global trade and create social, worker benefits BY ROBIN HAHNEL C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T Robin H ahnel is a professor o f economics em eritus at Am erican ow do we change U.S. trade policy to University in Washington, better serve the interests of the vast D .C ., faculty affiliate at majority both here and abroad? How Portland State University and co-director o f do we manage trade in the national interest? economics fo r E quity and The choice is not between managed trade the Environm ent. and free trade. The choice is about who will manage trade. The problem is that corporations have been allowed to manage trade policy in the U.S., which they have done very much to their advantage. Instead we need the U.S. government to step in and manage trade to orchestrate changes in Street Sm art Econom ics is a periodic series written trade patterns to maximize increases in fo r Street Roots by professors em eriti in economics. labor productivity in the U.S. and ensure R ead related colum ns a t news.streetroots.org that “losers” due to increased imports are fully compensated from the gains of reasons the U.S. government needs to “winners” due to increased exports. manage trade in this way: 1) Other Moreover, when all countries take this countries will continue to manage trade, and approach the result is a positive sum game any country which fails to do so will lose out where productivity rises more quickly to those who do. 2) Protectionism leads to everywhere. destructive trade wars which reduces global GDP, but when all countries manage trade to shift resources into industries where In the long run productivity is rising fastest, global GDP is The U.S. needs to develop the kind of increased. strategic industrial/trade policy pioneered H by Japan and copied by other “Asian Tigers” like South Korea. After World War II the In the here and now Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry Unfortunately the transition from used differential tax rates and terms of managing trade in the national interest, not credit so that companies in “traditional” corporate interests, will take some time, lower productivity industries like textiles and working class families who have been and toys would be those who moved the victims of corporate-managed, neoliberal operations abroad, but only after firms in trade policies championed by the higher productivity “industries of the future” establishment wing of both the Republican like steel, automobiles, and electronics had and Democratic parties are right to demand developed sufficiently to absorb employees immediate redress. who lost their jobs in traditional industries. One can quibble about whether U.S. The U.S. needs to implement a strategic exports are more labor-intensive than industrial/trade policy which orchestrates a imports on average, but there is little transition from industries where wages and enough difference to matter. So, if we increases in productivity are low to exported as much as we imported there industries where wages and increases in would be little, if any, loss of jobs. This productivity are higher. And it needs to means it is not trade, per se, which costs c o m p e n s a te and retrain w o r k e r s d u rin g th e O f v t x ls s i s m c k e i s c i e n c e , and there are many examples in other countries we can emulate. There are two o C E N T R A L C IT Y C O FFE E Sourcing & roasting craft coffee to benefit programs at Central City Concern. IN STORES New Seasons Market, Whole Foods, Food Front Cooperative Grocery, Green Zebra, Chuck's Produce, Food Fight!, Cherry Sprout Produce, and Know Thy Food. 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Follow our Facebook page for updates and specials. centralcitycoffee.org facebook.com/CentralCrtyCoffee coffee@ccconcem.org l o b s . b l f t f i - n r l í i d é v f í e i+ a F Tin F C A c t I a L c P vorv U.S. ran a trade surplus and our exports created more jobs y ea r fro m l o o o to 1 9 7 0 th e popular audience tuned into this subject, than our imports lost. and the battle over who will successfully Every year from 1976 through 2016 the attract their attention and allegiance will go U.S. has run a trade deficit and our exports a long way toward determining how the have created fewer jobs than our imports world evolves over the next few critical have lost. decades. There are many measures the Criticism of neoliberal globalization and government could and should take to xenophobic protectionism is important. But generate employment to make up for job critique alone is not losses caused by trade sufficient. Without a deficits. But the fact coherent alternative we remains that 40 years will lose because you of chronic trade can’t beat something deficits make it more Forty years of obroale trade with nothing. difficult to provide deficits wtafee it » o re d iffic u lt However, for jobs for everyone who I® provide jobs for ©wry« economic globalization is able and willing to ©»© who Is able and w illin g to be beneficial work, which in turn governments will have puts downward I® worfejr which 1st ta rn pats pressure on wages. downward pressure oa wages. to play a more active role. Center-left The most effective political parties in way to reduce trade deficits in the short- Europe and the U.S. run is to allow the made a huge mistake dollar to depreciate, acquiescing to i.e. fall in value neoliberal changes in relative to other currencies. This is a far the global economy championed by banks better way to reduce our trade deficit than and multinational corporations, for which to raise tariffs as right wing populists establishment political parties have recently propose, which is not only a regressive form paid a steep price at the polls. Instead, of taxation but more likely to invite revitalized, progressive political parties retaliation, as President Trump has already must redesign treaties and institutions like discovered. The negative consequence of the International Monetary Fund, World devaluing the dollar is that U.S. consumers Trade Organization and World Bank to help will pay more for imports. But there is no regulate and manage international trade and better time to take this hit than when investment in the interests of citizens not inflation has been historically low for going corporations. And the U.S. government on a decade. Additional policies will be must adopt policies, many of which have needed to ensure that wage increases in the been pioneered elsewhere, to orchestrate U.S. keep pace with increases in labor socially beneficial changes in trade and productivity. But eliminating chronic trade investment patterns, and most importantly, deficits will help since it keeps labor guarantee workers in declining industries an markets tighter. easy transition to work in industries of the future through retraining, relocation, and income support during their transition. Conclusion Developing a coherent approach to international economic issues that is cl i t f e i e n t i i c i i i b o t li n e o lib e r a liS I I l d lltl xenophobic protectionism is a crucial task for progressives today. There is a massive The World by Ron Sanford What is wrong with the world is plain to see What is right with the world is much tougher. A good question deserves a good answer So why not try to look at the bright side The internet has opened the way for better Communication with our fellow human beings. Free education. Free music videos at your fingertips. Instructional videos. Games, news and entertainment, Research and more. The lines at the DMV are shorter. There are fewer DUIs. This is the third in a series of of articles in d e fe n s e o f g lo b a liz a tio n . T h e f i r s t tw o installments are available at news. streetroots.org. Next to comet Part 4: Globalization and a Green New Deal. Untitled by Juliet Taliaferro His eyes shine. Like copper orbs that were set on fire. He was born with black Egyptian-style liner Every time we go out walking People stop to say what a beautiful dog I say thank you, but really I didn’t make him, maybe I should just say “I know.” The top of his head is soft and round, His ears are like velvet a darker shade of red His little black nose is cold and wet. Thick black whiskers more like antenna. His jaw is striped in white and gold with razor-sharp teeth and a quick pink tongue. He smiles a lot and uses his eyes They amaze me still How pure and bright, copper orbs That are filled with light.
