The Neoliberal Disorder: The Inconsistencies of Trade Policy
MacEwan, Arthur
Markets do not exist as gifts from the gods. They are created by people. In part, they are constructed and shaped as the unintended consequences of innumerable human actions and...
...The Bush administration, as I have tried to suggest here, will face several problems and inconsistencies in managing its international economic policy...
...This general picture is elaborated in many particulars...
...1 Not e served by everything is smooth, however...
...This has become apparent in actions by the Brazilian government...
...His most recent book is Neo-Liberalism or Democracy...
...4 Both on more government aid...
...relations with Latin America...
...In testimony before Congress on March 7, 2001, the new U.S...
...the empire...
...In part, they are constructed and shaped as the unintended consequences of innumerable human actions and arrangements-wars and revolutions, informal social customs and formal legal structures, schooling and technological innovations...
...steel imports, as will several countries in Europe million this year to compensate seed companies for and Asia...
...Low-cost, direct overseas production is a secondary part of the international operations of most U.S...
...On the one hand, regional agreements are sometimes presented by both proponents and opponents as a step in the process of globalization, as a movement towards a larger realm of commerce uninhibited by national boundaries...
...POLICY position is fully consistent with their strong and longstanding commitment to neoliberal ideology as a guide to policy...
...There is, however, a difference between having an agenda and implementing it...
...See "Levin Says Road to Fast-Track Goes Through Jordan Agreement," Inside U.S...
...business...
...business is often not the direct culprit...
...The conservative Republican leadership in the House of Representatives warned business groups against pushing for the inclusion of labor and environmental accords as a means to achieve TPA...
...1 8 Although the position of House Republicans may reflect their close ties to those segments of business more dependent on low-cost U.S...
...1 3 In addition, many legislators are concerned that particular interests that they wish to protect might be harmed by new trade agreements (the point of Proposition #1...
...Soybean Assn to Ask for $1.65 Bill in Aid," High Plains Journal, March 21, 2001...
...The policy calls for reducing the economic roles of government in providing social welfare, in managing economic activity at the aggregate and sectoral levels, and in regulating international commerce...
...rice restrict imports if an industry is threatened by imports, farmers have told Congress that "their future depends may be the best way to aid U.S...
...way of doing business starts with a great deal of power in the hands of the world's largest firms...
...multinationals, markets are at the center of their international concerns...
...In recent years, the United States appears to have done relatively well in the global economy, promoting a set of market-based policies and operating under a "freeinternational commerce) toward deregulation and openness...
...workers...
...8 consisted of government sponsorship for the develop- The Bush administration, like its predecessor, preachment of agricultural technology (including machinery es the gospel of free trade...
...E.U...
...Financial firms and exporters in Latin America as well as the region's few multinational operators also gain from the sorts of market arrangements that the United States is pursuing for the Western Hemisphere, and governments of the region generally share Washington's broad agenda...
...Trade, March 9, 2001...
...Yet when particular Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 29REPORT ON U.S...
...U.S...
...national market...
...Business has also, however, depended heavily on the ideology of neoliberalism to provide support for its international operations, and ideology is seldom a good foundation for tactical adjustments...
...It does not mean anything to say that we will do best by "leaving things to the market" until we specify which market...
...government has long supported U.S...
...Lott Sees Fast-track as Early as Fall, Including Labor and Environment," Inside US...
...For example, so far the U.S...
...These problems are real, and are consequences of the way the international economy is organized under the aegis of U.S...
...firms operating in Latin America in 1998 these imports back to the United States accounted for only 6% of total sales...
...Instead, Zoellick's interest is prompted in the Congress...
...capitalism...
...Io position #3: The practical advance of business requires both tactical adjustment and a supporting .L ideology, but the supporting ideology can become a guide to action that interferes with the practical advance of business...
...1 4 Trade Representative Zoellick "has said that Bush is willing to include such provisions in future on condition they do not impede trade...
...Chambers of Commerce), this 32 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 32REPORT ON U.S...
...None of this is to say that When particular business ar direct government than by the apl principles of fr principles a Republicans have exclusive claim to any of these titles...
...business are served by direct government support rather than by the application of free trade principles, those principles are ignored...
...imports (groups playing a role in the U.S...
...Zoellick did avow that any such protection for the steel industry should be temporary and would depend on a commitment from the industry and unions to "restructure" in ways that would make U.S...
...policymakers may not see things in exactly these terms, but they do seem well aware of the fact that in their efforts to shape international trade agreements they are engaged in an effort to construct or shape markets...
...1 6 It is not surprising that some business groups would be flexible on the labor and environmental issues...
...Fast track authority" in the U.S...
...Neoliberal ideology has no place for interference with "the market" to provide for concerns about labor and the environment...
...9 In fact, regional commercial formations are probably moving the organization of the world economy in two opposite directions at the same time-both toward globalization and toward restrictions on globalization...
...It continues on with minimal-as compared to other high-income countries-social regulations and supports for workers and low-income groups...
...Rice Farmers Say Their Future Depends on More Government Aid," The Associated Press State and Local Wire, March 21, 2001...
...These problems also underscore the practical problems that the Bush administration faces in Latin American and elsewhere in the coming period...
...firms rely to a great extent on subcontractors for the sorts of products and inputs that use low-wage labor and environmentally damaging production methods...
...U.S...
...1 7 To be sure, U.S...
...Multinational Companies, Operations in 1998," Survey of Current Business, July 2000...
...they are trying to construct the market they know and love, a market that embodies the principles, practices and procedures of the U.S...
...3. "Bush Moves Against Steel Imports...
...Economic Strategy, Markets, and Alternatives of the 21st Century (Zed Books, 1999...
...Overall, the situation is such that important business groups are likely to take a pragmatic approach to the issues and exhibit a willingness to make tactical adjustments...
...The matter continually arose, for example, in controversy over a provisional trade agreement with Jordan...
...administrations have followed for at least the last 50 years...
...opposition #2: Neoliberalism celebrates "globalization" and the integration of markets on a world-wide basis, but imperial power always involves rivalries and those rivalries lead to inter- and intra-regional conflicts...
...it is the government of U.S...
...Both NAFTA and the FTAA again provide examples, giving U.S...
...The data are from Raymond J. Mataloni, Jr., "U.S...
...government is not the government of world capitalism...
...1 0 This Times report focused on the dispute with the United States over AIDS drugs (noted above) and conflicts with Canada over subsidies to aircraft makers and over mad cow disease and beef exports...
...See "Lawmakers Seek Help for Steel Companies," The Columbus Dispatch, June 3, 2001...
...position has been weakened because after the implementation of NAFTA the Clinton administration, no less committed to FTAA than the Bush administration, was not able to obtain support in the Congress for "fast track authority...
...state has moved away from tariffs generally, throughout the world economy...
...On the other hand, regional agreements are also mechanisms to secure privilege for one national economic power relative to some of its rivals...
...In order to understand how that strategy evolves, what strengths and weaknesses it may exhibit, and what new instabilities and disruptions it is likely to generate, I want to focus attention on some inconsistencies and problems that are currently operating in the international economy, and particularly in U.S...
...The emerging policy of the Bush administration with regard to steel imports has been pushed by a large bloc in Congress...
...For the past decade, under both Democrats and Republicans, Washington has been engaged in a very explicit and direct action to shape the markets of the Americas...
...international economic agreements...
...The agenda of the Bush administration regarding economic policy toward Latin America or, for that matter, toward the rest of the world is fairly clear: It will be following in the well worn path that U.S...
...9. "Biggest Obstacle to Selling Trade Pact: Sovereignty," The New York Times, April 23, 2001...
...Thus The U.S...
...Also see "Banana Dispute Resolved as E.U.-Ecuador Reach Agreement," Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest, Vol...
...The Neoliberal Disorder 1. While my concern here is primarily with the way neoliberalism prescribes "free trade" for the operation of the international economy, the policies and ideology of neoliberalism are broader: "The economic policy that became dominant in most of the world during the final decades of the 20th century has given greater and greater rein to unregulated private decisionmaking...
...business a preferential position in the Americas relative to its European and Asian rivals...
...government in Latin America and, more a( nd other restri n NACILA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 4nu OLD_r l'e:Jtl-l(dtlll Oil HllarKet lueology ualt has interests of U.S...
...POLICY interests of U.S...
...firms that benefit from the administration's international economic agenda have many allies in the world economy...
...Such support has have its invention be subject to a compulsory license...
...efforts to create the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) have not done well on a global level, but its provisions have been thoroughly incorporated in NAFTA and are an important part of the U.S...
...government and U.S...
...Their interest in keeping labor and environmental accords out of international trade agreements is motivated more by a desire to maintain access to foreign markets...
...It is best, perhaps, to view neoliberalism, especially its free trade component, as primarily a justificatory ideology rather than as a guide to policy...
...Will Buy Back Corn Seed," The Washington Post, March 8, 2001...
...firms from data on imports back to the United States from the firms' foreign affiliates relative to the total sales of those affiliates...
...firms or industries have been at stake, Zoellick and the Bush administration have found rationalizations for protectionism...
...That con- lobbies for more government research support and cern is not, of course, for the well-being of the Latin favorable regulatory actions, it expects considerable American countries that have had their exports to the support from the Bush administration and Republicans EU restricted...
...Both then and now, the consistent feature in defining the Republican Party has been its support for U.S.-based big business...
...7 While the focus of this support is not by the fact that it is the U.S.-based Chiquita company- foreign trade per se, biotechnology-based products are the descendant of the infamous United Fruit Compa- an important part of U.S...
...Markets are also constructed and shaped by conscious and intentional actions by individuals, unions, firms, and governments...
...Congress--or, as Bush administration officials have renamed the issue, "trade promotion authority" (TPA)-is a tactical keystone in the current evolution of U.S...
...POLICY the present slowdown...
...business interests, U.S...
...markets...
...The Jordan agreement as drafted includes labor and environmental provisions, and leading Democrats claim "that fast-track must include enforceable labor and environmental standards as one of the U.S...
...5 tries, particularly the pharmaceutical industry...
...practices that protect the rights of private property against environmental regulations...
...Politicalmilitary power is an essential partner of economic expansion...
...These data suggest that the primary concern of U.S...
...Trade Policy Takes Shape," Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest, March 13, 2001...
...antidumping law, domestic support for U.S...
...come to be known as "neoliberalism...
...In this effort, the Republican Party is now carrying the banner of "Free Trade...
...The conflict between the free markets and particular U.S...
...business and, through U.S...
...workers face as a result of import competition or about environmental damage associated with international commerce...
...Their victory on matters of international economic policy-or perhaps we should see it as the victory of big business-has been thorough, and the Democrats too have been zealous in their pursuit of "free trade" and in the general support of U.S.-based businesses' operations in the global arena...
...As the industry is a concern of the U.S...
...pO position #1: Neoliberalism is based on the ideology of free markets, and the practitioners of neoliberalism argue that free markets are the best means by which to support the interests of U.S...
...Likewise, the popular image of these firms as seeking havens safe from environmental regulation probably arises from some highly dramatic anecdotes...
...One can infer the role of low-cost production in the international operations of U.S...
...has been a flurry of demands from farm groups for supindustry above free trade principles: "He said the Sec- port: Soybean growers want "their share" of dollars tion 201 trade law, which allows an administration to under the American Marketing Transition Act...
...Yet, for the largest U.S...
...Yet while the context and the broad agenda are important, they are not the whole story...
...1 2 TPA would require the support of 31 Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001REPORT ON U.S...
...farmers, and high U.S...
...The history of military actions is the backdrop for the economic policies of the U.S...
...business along with the imperial U.S...
...The Metalclad case involves a California-based company in a suit against local regulations in Mexico...
...Under "Trade Promotion Authority," Congress would commit itself to consider without amendment trade agreements negotiated by the administration...
...8. "U.S...
...thus when the Brazilian government, or any other government, attempts to allow national pharmaceutical companies to provide medicines at reasonable rates, they would be blocked by the rules of the market...
...The U.S...
...Beyond the hemisphere, this overriding principle is shared by business and government in most countries...
...firms happy...
...negotiating objectives...
...House Leaders Urge Halt to Business Labor, Environment Effort," Inside U.S Trade, February 16, 2001...
...See, for example, "Mexico to Pay Pounds 11m Damages in NAFTA Case," Financial Times (London), September 1, 2000...
...In early June, 2001, the Bush administration "took the first steps...toward imposing broad restrictions on imported steel, handing a victory to American steel companies and unions that have long urged the government to grant relief from foreign competition...
...POLICY Republicans of a century ago pushed the weaker countries of the Americas to open their markets to U.S...
...government support for biotechnology is directly releagribusiness-and in some cases independent U.S...
...corn mixed with an unapproved genetically modified Zoellick has also, like his predecessors in the Clinton variety-the first direct federal bailout of food producadministration, pursued the issue of access for bananas ers harmed by biotechnology...
...NAFTA provides a clear example, and the efforts to form the FTAA are a further step in this movement from the national, to the regional, to the global...
...Thus the reaction of many congressional Republicans to the NAM's and Business Roundtable's openness to labor and environmental accords was hostile...
...Trade Tensions are Likely to Arise," The New York Times, June 6, 2001...
...To do so, however, it will not only have to placate the Democrats and those from both parties who want to protect particular constituencies from import competition, but also those Republicans who continue to be driven by neoliberal ideology...
...What distribution of income exists when we start leaving things to this market...
...Thus it perpetuates a highly unequal distribution of income and power...
...House Leaders Urge Halt to Business, Labor, Environment Effort," Inside U.S...
...As a result, NAM, at least, backed off on the issue...
...Yet, even on a regional level the United States cannot always control the actions of other governments...
...While Chiquita generally expressed satisfaction with the agreement, Dole Food Company, also a U.S.-based firm, criticized the agreement as favoring its competitor...
...otherwise they are unnecessary...
...After all, if NAFTA were an agreement designed to leave things to the market, it could have been written up in a few pages, if not in a paragraph or two...
...Yet guided by the fundamental principle that their goal is to promote U.S...
...policy makers must continually violate free market principles...
...Yet when these neoliberals proclaim the desirability of "leaving things to the market," they are in fact making a meaningless statement...
...Those in Congress who have built their careers on the basis of this ideology-however opportunistically embraced in the first place-appear to have a difficult time when it comes to a need for tactical adjustments...
...Excluding the special case of Mexico, for U.S...
...In Latin America, the long history of the imperial state is especially poignant, beginning perhaps with the schemes to annex Cuba at the beginning of the 19th century, achieving formal definition with the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, passing on through the war with Mexico and the annexation of nearly half of that country at mid-century and the war with Spain at the end of the century, reaching a veritable frenzy in the era of "dollar diplomacy" when the U.S...
...5, No...
...Nonetheless, as these data suggest, U.S...
...firms more competitive-which would likely mean gutting existing union contracts...
...Chamber of Commerce--remain opposed...
...They too want to establish a market context that makes the world safe for the pursuit of profits...
...Rebuts Charges that IPR Panel Attacks Brazil's AIDS Policy," Inside U.S Trade, February 9, 2 0 01...
...Economic Strategy, Markets, and Alternatives for the 21st Century (London and New York: Zed Books and St...
...trade through various indusny-that wants greater access to the world markets...
...Trade, March 9, 2001...
...POLICY and Europe...
...Those issues are not the same as the direct and immediate concerns of the largest U.S...
...business, the interests of the U.S...
...I will organize most of my comments around three propositions...
...5. The settlement of the U.S.-E.U...
...A new commitment to trade liberalization can boost a vigorous, long term economic recovery from 28REPORT ON U.S...
...While Chapter 11 does provide extensive protections for firms, the courts have not always given them what they want...
...These data, for Mexico or the whole region, do not tell us much about the problems that U.S...
...NAFTA firmly incorporates such practices, as has been made well known by two recent cases in which private companies brought suit against environmental protections enacted by sovereign governments...
...I might note in passing that environmental and labor provisions are meaningful only if in fact they do in some way impede trade...
...Shortly before the Summit of the Americas, the New York Times told its readers that: "What [recent disputes] have in common is the sight of Brazil as it sheds its image as eternally easygoing and cordial and suddenly flexes the muscles that naturally accrue to a regional power with 170 million people and a booming economy...
...Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001REPORT ON U.S...
...2 Nonetheless, when the interests of particular U.S...
...The simultaneous formation of regional and global trade agreements is one manifestation of the tension that emerges from international rivalries and conflicts...
...As a new incarnation of these old ideas, this ascendant economic policy is generally called 'neoliberalism...
...1 1 In part, the U.S...
...How is the market we are talking about constructed...
...steelmakers...
...As the action had been several months in the making, as Zoel- Bush administration establishes itself in office, there lick had spoken up to raise the particular needs of U.S...
...economy and U.S...
...1 9 The Bush administration and the large U.S...
...The Brazilian government, however, has been causing more general problems for the United States in its approach to the FTAA...
...16, May 1, 2001...
...POLICY a sizable number of Democrats in the Congress, and some members of the Democratic Congressional leadership claim that they will not move on the issue without provisions in trade agreements that assure labor rights and environmental protection...
...At least since the middle of the 20th century, U.S...
...See Arthur MacEwan, Neo-Liberalism or Democracy...
...1 5 Perhaps of greater significance is that some business groups, notably the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Business Roundtable, have indicated a willingness to support inclusion of labor and environmental accords in international agreements, though other business groups-for example, the U.S...
...With regard to the FTAA, other governments have indicated that they would not go forward with negotiations unless Congress makes this commitment...
...It is a gospel that serves the and seeds), numerous programs of agricultural price broad interests of U.S...
...Trade, March 9, 2001...
...What rights do different groups have...
...tariffs on key Brazilian exports such as steel and orange juice...
...Who owns how much property...
...As a consequence, the FTAA has been slower in developing than otherwise might have been the case, and delays have limited the ability of the United States to maintain control over at least some of its Latin American partners...
...Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, laid out the Bush administration's general policy on international commerce and, in particular, the administration's obeisance to free trade: "Just as the World War II generation forged a bipartisan consensus that sustained successful trade expansion throughout the Cold War, we must build a new consensus to promote open markets and trade in the decades to come...
...Meet On Trade As U.S...
...7. The president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization has commented, "Generally, we're very positive about how this administration is developing its policies and personnel...
...It is the ultimate guarantor of the arrangements at the foundation of NAFTA, the FTAA and other formal economic agreements that the U.S...
...business...
...government has constructed for the operation of U.S...
...A t each step in its effort to establish new economic arrangements for the Americas, the ush administration, like the Clinton administration before it, has appealed to time-worn cliches about the efficacy of markets...
...In discussions with Zoellick, Brazil's foreign minister has insisted on addressing several "issues that the U.S...
...The popular image of those firms as heavily dependent on low-wage foreign labor is understandable because of the importance of low-wage-based imports of highly visible consumer goods (e.g., clothing) and the dramatic problems of many U.S...
...government, unable at this time to shape global agreements to its full satisfaction, seeks to form arrangements within the Americas that are in accord with its aims and which then may provide a basis for shaping global agreements in the future...
...This bailout, it should be noted, had bipartisan support in Congress...
...The operation of nt support rather the system itself generates plication of the instability and disruption, and it thus demands conee trade, those tinual adjustments of strategy by those who direct re ignored...
...At the Summit of the Americas in April, 2001, President Bush promoted the FTAA, explaining his focus on a regional accord in order that "we can combine in a common market so we can compete in the long term against the Far East 30 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 30REPORT ON U.S...
...The ideas at the foundation of this policy are not new...
...What they are doing is trying to spread the particular U.S...
...It has not been cooperating...
...Martin's Press, 1999), p. 4. 2. Statement of the Honorable Robert B. Zoellick, United States Trade Representative, Testimony Before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on President Bush's Trade Agenda, March 7, 2001...
...See "Biotech Largely Pleased by Bush," The Boston Herald, February 26, 2001...
...6. See "U.S...
...6 to the European market...
...4. "Steel import Curbs Weighed," The Washington Post, March 8, 2001...
...The U.S...
...They embody a tension that will be resolved-if at all--only as the international rivalries evolve...
...business has grown in strength, and its realm of operation has become increasingly international, both its strategy and the strategy of the Republican Party, as well as the party's rhetoric, have changed...
...Brazilian Minister Resists Speeding Up FTAA, Emphasizes Mercosur," Inside U.S...
...See "Dole Says Trade Accord on Bananas Favors Rival," The New York Times, April 14, 2001...
...Trade, February 16, 2001...
...vant to a recent dispute related to Brazilian production farmers...
...firms operating in Latin America is the market, while production for sales back to the United States-the type of activity in which low wages and lack of environmental restrictions would be important-is of lesser significance...
...There are some differences between the way that Republicans and Democrats pursue the same broad international economic objectives, yet the operation of an imperial state has been a defining feature of the much touted bipartisan foreign policy for a long time...
...more than 200 members of the U.S...
...3 The groundwork for this water policies, and export promotion initiatives...
...government used its military forces readily and explicitly to protect the interests of U.S...
...The U.S...
...patent laws are to be the norm for all the Americas...
...I want to work with [the Congress] to try to mobilize broad support for free trade...
...In the Methanex case, a Canadian firm has sued the government of California for placing a ban on the use of its gasoline additive product MTBE...
...As U.S...
...Another example is the set of U.S...
...agenda for the FTAA...
...banana dispute at the end of April 2001, however, did not leave all U.S...
...Brazil Flexes New Muscle in Another Trade Fight," The New York Times, March 27, 2001...
...administration will not be comfortable negotiating, such as changes to U.S...
...firms' affiliates in Mexico, which accounted for 28% of the sales of their affliliates operating in the region, sent 40% of their sales back to the United States...
...They come directly from the classical economic liberalism that emerged in the nineteenth century and that proclaimed 'the market' as the proper guiding instrument by which people should organize their economic lives...
...Under the rubric of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Bush administration is attempting to construct a whole new set of rules by which economic relations in the Western Hemisphere would be organized...
...government has objected to a U.S...
...business...
...way of doing business...
...This support is especially important because of AIDS drugs...
...The negotiations over the FTAA will involve similar sorts of complexities and similar volumes of ink and paper...
...In this view of the phenomenon, the U.S...
...Instead, the agreement runs on for hundreds of pages, setting out the rules and procedures by which the market among Canada, the United States and Mexico will operate...
...business, and then beating a steady cadence through the Cold War era as the United States intervened, directly and indirectly, virtually at will throughout the region...
...internationally operating firms...
...These actions, which Bush justified as arising from "unfair trade practices" by other governments, suggest that the new administration will go well beyond its Anti-globalization protest in Buenos Aires, Argentina...
...In NAFTA and in the FTAA, the spread is to the Americas, but the United States has operated with a similar agenda in its direction of global institutions-the IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organization (WTO...
...interests (Proposition #1), imperial and regional rivalries (Proposition #2), and the political disputes where ideological principles come into conflict with tactical needs (Proposition #3) all illustrate the continuing national character of U.S...
...that access depends on reaching agreement with business and governments in low-income countries who, because of their direct interests, are opposed to such accords...
...House of Representatives-including members of both political parties-have sponsored the "Steel Revitalization Act," which would direct the president to impose quotas, tariff surcharges, or other measures on "illegally" dumped steel and to negotiate agreements that restrain imports of steel products...
...One good example is that U.S...
...exports, they were simultaneously limiting the access of other industrialized countries to U.S...
...In the Metalclad and Methanex cases, firms have used Chapter 11 of NAFTA to sue governments over environmental regulations...
...As the United States does not The corn bailout is but one aspect of Republicans' export bananas, one might legitimately wonder why this willingness to aid the biotech industry...
...Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott has said that "Congress should consider labor and environmental issues provided they are not made into the 'dominant part' of the final legislation...
...During the late 19th century, when big business in the United States operated primarily in the national realm and needed protection from foreign-especially European-competition, the Republican Party identified itself as "The Party of the Tariff...
...imperial operation is very powerful, especially when the United States sits alone as the world's only superpower...
...Consider the steel industry...
...and Bush's Agriculture Brazil and Mexico will be affected by restrictions on Department has announced that it "will spend up to $20 U.S...
...The U.S...
...Moreover, in this effort to construct a market of the Americas, the U.S...
...See, for example, "Ruling in Canada Strikes at Companies' NAFTA Trade Suits," Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2001...
...U.S...
...What are the rules...
...business to construct a world economic order exactly as it would wish, are important factors in shaping the institutions and course of the international economy...
...business are not just trying to create any old market...
...Although the United States operates today as the world's only superpower, it does not operate without challenges...
...business...
...The Bush administration may attain TPA...
...While the 27 Arthur MacEwan teaches economics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston...
...predecessor in protecting the domestic steel industry supports, government provision of subsidies through from foreign competition...
...In this movement, the Republican Party has in effect re-dubbed itself as "The Party of Free Trade"-though it might avoid confusion if it would just maintain the one name that defines its consistency, "The Party of Big Business...
...The Republicans have carried other banners in the past...
...citizens...
...These and many more questions need to be answered before we can talk about "leaving things to the market...
...What defines property...
...capitalism, even in an economy that is increasingly "global...
...trade representative...
...Some Republicans in Congress and in the administration have indicated their willingness to include labor and environmental provisions in trade agreements, but that willingness is limited...
...government and U.S...
...Under these arrangements, Congress could accept or reject the agreements, but could not amend them...
...agricultural exports have major impacts on social Brazilian regulation "that requires a company to manuas well as economic structures in many countries, facture in Brazil within three years of getting a patent or including several in Latin America...
...These challenges, these limits on the ability of the U.S...
Vol. 35 • November 2001 • No. 3
