Reply #19: Because it doesn't make everything more affordable [View All]

[IrateCitizen]

I'm so sick to death of this kind of simplistic drivel regarding trade issues. It sounds as if you just copied and pasted this from a Thomas Friedman op-ed in the NYT.

Full globalism, as you propose, is utterly unworkable for several reasons. However, it is advantageous for specific areas to band together in common interest to form regional trade blocs. The EU is an excellent example of this. Their approach has helped to minimize the pain of this transition, by ensuring that the living standards of poorer members are raised UP, rather than just pushing DOWN the living standards of workers receiving greater compensation.

To expect the countries of Africa and Latin America to compete on the same field as the US and EU is pure folly. Of course, there are steps that the US and EU can take to help them along, namely by eliminating agricultural subsidies and opening their agricultural markets to foreign goods. But many of these countries need to pursue the very process of modernization, and must be free to pursue it in their own way. Imposing one-size-fits-all trade rules on them will only hamper this process while pushing living standards down for already modernized nations.

Furthermore, if you look at the path of development of successful economies, all of them adopted PROTECTIONIST measures until their economies were ready to compete on a bigger scale. The developing nations of the world must be afforded the same opportunities as the likes of Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea in order to truly achieve modernization and industrialization. Your utopian vision of "free trade" just ain't gonna do it.