A Beacon for US Trade Policy | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Beacon for US Trade Policy | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Using domestic reform as a bargaining chip in [trade] negotiations is akin to an athlete refusing to get fit for an event unless and until other competitors also agree to get fit."

"The concept of indivisibility reinforces the fact that domestic economic reform — rather than market liberalisation abroad — is the most effective trade policy. If governments wish their countries' industries to be internationally competitive, the focus should be on reducing home-grown frictions, removing superfluous domestic regulations and encouraging more competition at home, before looking to clear bottlenecks abroad."

"the primary focus of the Obama administration's National Export Initiative has been the reduction of foreign barriers to trade — the premise being that the most significant obstacles to US export success are foreign-made. But that's wrong. US exporters, like Australian exporters, are not born as exporters. They are first manufacturers, service providers, employers, importers, taxpayers and emitters of carbon, compelled in those capacities to comply with a growing web of mandates, regulations and restrictions that are often redundant or at cross purposes, impeding competitiveness at home and abroad. That is where the reform focus should be."

"a World Trade Organisation dispute settlement panel sided with the US government in its challenge of restraints imposed by the Chinese government on China's exports of nine crucial raw materials. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk was right to characterise the export restraints as harmful to downstream US industries that rely on those industrial inputs to compete effectively. But he failed to mention that the US government itself imposes import restrictions under the anti-dumping law on some of those raw materials, devastating firms in the same industries."