Liberal Talk Radio

The Center for American Progress has a smart memo out on the troubled Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and why it’s bad even though free trade is good. Check it:

Opposition to DR-CAFTA need not, and should not, signal opposition to trade agreements generally. Both the foreign policy and economic interests of the United States are well served by trade liberalization. It is particularly important for the United States to take a productive leadership role in bringing the Doha Round of multilateral negotiations to a successful conclusion. But debate regarding trade agreements often obscures, rather than illuminates, the issues:

First, neither DR-CAFTA nor any other U.S. trade agreement entails genuinely “free” trade. Substantial tariffs or quotas remain. The relevant question is who gets protected and who does not.

Second, like most recent trade agreements, DR-CAFTA affects much more than “trade” - it reaches far beyond import policies into domestic economic and social policy, by imposing, for example, obligations to provide certain forms of intellectual property protection. The choice of policies to include in an agreement reflects basic political decisions more than pursuit of comparative advantage or other economic justifications for liberal trade.

Third, the rhetoric of “free but fair” trade is no more helpful. “Fair” trade policies are usually in the eye of the beholder. Fairness is an important standard by which to evaluate a trade agreement, but fairness can be assessed only by looking at the impact on all affected groups and individuals.

Since both “free trade” and “fair trade” are more slogans than policies, it is important to refocus the debate on what constitutes a smart trade policy.

So don’t worry… you don’t need to be an isolationist-protectionist to oppose this turkey. Oppose it because it’s the worst kind of free trade.