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Backlash On Foreign Trade

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 7, 2007

In a finding sure to affect the presidential campaign, Republican voters are now skeptical of the value of free trade, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Asked if they agree that trade has been bad for the United States, 59 percent said yes. Eight years ago in the same poll, only 31 percent said trade was bad.

The unemployment rate is slightly higher now than in 1999, but the small difference can't explain the changed attitude.

In another troubling finding, Pew Research Center found that only 70 percent of Americans think people are better off with free markets. When the same question is asked in China, freedom gets a 75 percent endorsement.

Much analysis will follow on what has gone wrong, and many factors are involved - illegal immigration, the trade deficit, the falling dollar, tainted products, dissatisfaction with elected leaders, and the damage done to towns where major industries have closed.

This nation needs more bipartisan cooperation to address these problems. The result of inaction will be more trade restrictions, higher prices and less economic freedom.

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