July 10, 2007
Credit Where Credit is Due
I'm belated in getting to it, but James Vesely mentioned Maria Cantwell's support for the US-South Korea trade agreement in his Sunday column. She said so in the context of bemoaning the decline in support for foreign trade - which is being aided in no small part by her Senate colleague and Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
Cantwell specifically called the pending US-South Korea accord "the most commercially significant trade agreement since NAFTA." True, and good for her that she's standing up for it.
But it's clear such thinking may be waning in Democratic caucuses on both sides of the Capitol. Local moderates Adam Smith and Rick Larsen are going to have to some real work convincing their skeptical colleagues in the House, which remains a hotbed for job-killing protectionism.
Posted by Eric Earling at July 10, 2007
07:53 AM | Email This
1.
The only reason we'd want to trade with Korea and Japan is to prop them up to be a shield against China.
Now that relations are normalizing and China seems headed (hopefully) towards moderation, there's no need to funnel money to the small potatoes guys.
2. John: These small potatoes are two of our best allies. On the other hand, Communist China has never been an ally of this Republic. In fact, Communist China helps support Islamnazis in Iran/Iraq and elsewhere. They also prop up the regime of the N/Korean dictator. Why do they do this if they are our friend?.... Its because they want us to spend time, energy and money on those side shows so we won't be able to do much when they decide to invade Taiwan. By buying the junk they sell us using slave wages, etc, we are helping them modernize their military. Once they get a blue water navy, we will be in trouble. We will need all the Asian allies we can get. Remember the nealy 100 million people killed by the communist party in China by Mao and his henchmen. Right now they need us more than we need them. NEVER help your enemy grow in strength...
3. Hmm...
Protectionism has worked well for Japan and Taiwan. Now China has jumped on the bandwagon.
Our country sacrifices our industrial base so it can prop up two allies. Japan and South Korea should pay us for their protection.
4. John,
In terms of gross GDP, Japan and South Korea rank 2nd and 12th, respectively in the world. Putting Japan ahead of Germany, France, the PRC, and everyone else save the US.
South Korea's ahead of India, Mexico, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and 90% of all countries.
They're not small potatoes guys - they're seriously big markets that we should treat as such.
5. John and M&M: The Republic of Korea does protect itself....remember that the UN forced a truce on the ROK. No doubt that we do a lot to help ROK in defense matters, but we do not have even one division stationed in ROK. It should also be remembered that the ROK army assisted us in VietNam. It was the democrats who cut off all military aid and equipment to the South Vietnamese...rendering them unable to stop the onslaught of the communist north. As for Japan...it should be noted that we want an unarmed Japan, hence we undertook the mission of protecting them. Now that circumstances have changed, Japan is now in the process of changing their constitution to allow greater offensive roles for their defense forces. The true allies we have in Asia are ROK, Japan, Philipines, Autralia. I leave out India in this equation since they have historicly alligned themselves with non-western countries. Our trade polocies would be better served if we set trade agreements country by country rather that using WTO. We should never trade any sovereignty in our trade policies to any outside organization.
6. Way to dumb down an issue for your readers here, Eric. Opposition to anything described as a "free trade" equals "protectionism." Sen. Murray is finally speaking some truth that free-traders-with-blinders like yourself need to hear: that you must acknowledge the negative impacts and dramatic unpopularity of these agreements, and do something real to address that if you want more of them.
The days of marginalizing opposition to "free trade" as horse-and-buggy protectionism by stupid union people (like me) are over. I guess you didn't get that memo.