The U S & free trade Do as we say, not as we do

...Coining to an agreement with a handful of poor Central American countries is easier than dealing with the Group of Twenty-one, which includes such big economic players as China, India, Brazil, and Thailand...

...We have yet to recognize that the world has changed and that so too must we...

...They fell well short of creating anything like a level playing field on which farmers in poor countries could sell in the markets of the developed world...

...Too many countries are left out, and not enough of the efficiencies that can be achieved by integrated global markets are secured...

...In addition, virtually all the Democratic candidates for the presidency defend some form of protectionism...

...In contrast, poor nations that turned inward in the name of self-reliance did much less well...

...Government must help those who are displaced...

...Rather than strive for global agreements that will be mutually beneficial for all, we succumb to the less desirable policy of allying ourselves with countries one at a time...

...Regulating the international economy was easier in the past...

...As was the case with Iraq, unilateralism is enticing, especially if you are the biggest guy on the block...

...This retreat from multilateralism is shortsighted...

...Innocent victims of progress have a right to claim from the rest of us social policies of income support, health care, job retraining, and assistance in relocating...

...At Cancun, the offers from the rich countries to dismantle the policies that protect their agricultural sectors could not be taken seriously...

...We sacrifice the prospect of raising our own income levels, even as farmers in poor countries are cut off from opportunities to raise theirs...

...A much-cited example of this would be African cotton farmers whose sales would increase dramatically if American export subsidies were removed...

...This shift in influence is what now tempts the United States to adopt a policy of unilateralism in trade...

...Many poor countries, especially in Asia, succeeded in achieving high rates of economic growth by successfully penetrating international markets...

...It is, however, an approach that falls far short of meeting the needs of the world's poor...

...Much of what the United States did was quite right...

...The group of twenty-one poor countries has many internal divisions, but what it stood firm on was the need to dismantle or reduce such programs as the subsidies given to cotton exporters in the United States, the European Union's support for sugar producers, and the tariff protection that Japan accords to its rice farmers...

...Second, the success of poor countries in penetrating export markets has created a protectionist reaction in the United States...

...For the first time, relatively poor countries gained an important role in international trade negotiations...

...In Mexico, by contrast, 146 countries participated, with 21 of the largest poorer nations forming a cohesive negotiating bloc...

...Restructuring hurts some even as it helps most...

...Instead of trying to fend it off it would be better to come to terms with the process...

...Substitute the phrase "an alliance of the willing" for "can-do countries" and the echo of the United States unilateralism in Iraq is unmistakable...

...As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to reconcile all the competing interests...

...Yet these economic facts of life have not been adequately explained or addressed by the political leadership of this country...

...Not only is broader trade the best hope for the world's poor, but there is really no escape from the global economy...

...But instead of embracing the prescription we have pushed on the rest of the world, we have balked, resisting the logic of free trade and economic efficiency, particularly in seeking to protect our steel, textile, and agricultural sectors...

...It is this political failure that leads to the temptation of unilateralism...

...With global trade agreements in place, this country, Japan, and the European Union became each other's best customers...

...Farmers in the rich countries who cannot compete without extensive government support would be ruined, while agriculture in poor countries would benefit from expanded market opportunities...

...trade agreements with a few selected nations...

...Global trade encourages each country to specialize in what it can produce most efficiently, and then trade for products that it produces less efficiently...

...Trade negotiations were confined to a few developed countries and they were able to find common ground in advancing their interests...

...This temptation is rooted in two principal developments...

...Instead of going to war, however, unilateralism will now take the form of negotiating U.S...

...This is precisely the sort of restructuring that the neoliberal, so-called Washington Consensus has been advocating for three decades...

...The consequence of this political failure is that in trade talks like those at Cancun, our representatives offer to open our markets only grudgingly and to a limited extent...

...That fact in turn makes it clear that the spread of economic growth requires a strengthening of our social safety net-not its dismantling...

...At the same time, the United States successfully pressured the world's poor countries, especially in the 1990s, to open their markets and to welcome foreign capital...

...First, having more players at the trade table has made negotiations more complex...

...Doing that, however, requires that we face up to the fact that globalization inflicts pain on the firms and workers who are unable to compete in world markets...

...For example it might be possible for the United States to produce the bananas that are consumed here, but we are much better off buying bananas from a country like Ecuador where climatic and soil conditions make it possible to produce the fruit at a much lower cost...

...they are now active participants in that process...

...Now, when much of the rest of the world has accepted Washington's advice, the time has come for the United States to bite the bullet...

...The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), originally had nineteen participating nations...

...That is the real meaning of the strife that occurred at Cancun...

...But just as going it alone in Iraq has proved unsatisfactory, unilateralism in trade cannot provide the foundation for a stable international economic system...

...Everyone knows that if programs such as these were curtailed, the restructuring that has occurred in so many poor countries would be experienced at home...

...Central to the disagreement was the role of agriculture...

...As for the double standard adopted by the United States, it was no surprise...

...No longer are they voiceless in shaping global trade rules...

...The virtue of such specialization is that worldwide production is maximized, raising income levels to the highest level possible across the board...

...Com-meriting on the breakdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, last month, Robert B. Zoellick, the United States trade representative, had this to say: "As the WTO members ponder the future, the United States will not wait: we will move toward free trade with can-do countries...

...The problem is that trade specialization means that some sectors of a country's economy will become uncompetitive and eventually fail...

...The Bush administration talks free trade but has increased agricultural subsidies and protected other industries, such as steel, especially in politically strategic states like West Virginia and Pennsylvania...

...Because the necessary domestic political consensus to do more doesn't exist...

...Global talks, such as those at Cancun, were at one time confined largely to the countries of the developed world...

...With the spread of economic growth, the structure of the global economy changed...