Why Trump, Sanders, Clinton and Cruz Joined Ford in Fighting Asian Trade Pact

If there’s one thing Americans understand, it’s cars. [Leon Lazaroff| April 5, 2016 |The Street] The U.S. auto industry, all but dead following the U.S. banking crisis of 2008, has largely recovered from the recession. Domestic auto production is breaking records, fueled in recent quarters by the declining price of gasoline. General Motors(GM – Get Report)  and Chrysler, a division of Fiat…

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No, National Borders Are Not ‘Arbitrary’

One of the truly dumbest arguments I hear in favor of free trade is that national borders are “arbitrary.” [Ian Fletcher| April 4, 2016 |Huffington Post] I usually get this from right-wing libertarian types, but occasionally from “one world” leftists, too. But it’s not true. For a start, calling national borders “arbitrary” is simply irrelevant,…

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The Trade Deficit Does, Too, Matter

Never have I seen a political issue so susceptible to sophistry – in the original sense of that term connoting tricky conceptual sleight-of-hand – as trade economics. [Ian Fletcher| March 29, 2016 |Huffington Post] Never have I seen a political issue so susceptible to sophistry – in the original sense of that term connoting tricky…

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The Choice Is Not Between TPP or No Trade

The high-profile presidential primary revolt against decades of damaging American trade policy finally has forced the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) into mainstream media coverage. [Lori Wallach| March 24, 2016 |Huffington Post] The usual free-trade-agreement cheerleading squad of chronic-job-offshoring corporations, Wall Street, agribusiness and their coterie of think tanks and pundits are unnerved. After spending billions in…

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Bernie Sanders gets trade right

Residents of Washington state recognize the difference between a good trade policy and a bad trade policy. A bad trade policy is still bad, even if you call it “free trade,” “nuanced trade” or “utilitarian.” [Stan Sorscher| March 23, 2016 |Seattle Times] The Trans-Pacific Partnership is neither free, nuanced nor utilitarian. It’s an extension of…

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