CWT Blog

Shifting American Attitudes on Trade

Posted by Consumers for World Trade Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:32:00 GMT

December 7, 2007 - It seems like more and more Americans are thinking differently on trade these days. A recent study conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. found some interesting trends among the American public regarding international trade, aid and investment. The GMF’s poll discovered that Americans are growing progressively more skeptical of the benefits of free trade, increasingly seeing it as more of a threat than an opportunity. According to the survey, while about half of Americans thought trade cost more jobs than it created in 2005, that number rose to 57% in 2007. Moreover, the percentage of American respondents that looked favorably on trade with some of the world’s poorest countries slumped from 75% last year to 69% in 2007.

These disparaging numbers beg to ask the question: What is souring the American people on trade? Among the people trying to find out are the researchers and scholars at the Third Way, a progressive think-tank looking into these recent declines in public support. It is engaged in a year-long study on why American attitudes are shifting on trade, and what is giving anti-trade voices more clout in this grand debate. In it’s initial paper on the topic, entitled "Why Lou Dobbs is Winning," the Third Way identifies several causes of the American people’s declining support for trade. The study points out that very often, those who lose from trade make a much more compelling case for protectionism than those advocating for free trade. These anti-trade activists appeal to values, such as the American working-man who is displaced by imports, while the pro-trade champion is to often far less persuasive, turning to abstract economic theory or cold statistical data to make their case. Moreover, the American government no longer attaches open trade policies to some higher calling or foreign policy priority, as it did in the contest with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Perhaps most poignant of all the report’s findings was that American leadership is not offering a suitable vision of how to strengthen and grow the American middle class, and this uncertainty is leading many Americans to overestimate the negative impact of trade on their lives.

Despite the increasingly vociferous complaints of those who have unfortunately lost from trade, and the growing concern among ordinary Americans over the costs of trade, it seems that the facts continually back up the economic logic of free trade. Open trade continues to create more jobs than it costs. In looking at some of the recently-passed or proposed free trade agreements, for example, the countries we stand to cooperate with will only increase up the number of export-related jobs in America; furthermore, Peru, Panama or Colombia are not poised to take over the American market with an influx of their goods.
However, in communicating the realities of free-trade, especially in terms of explaining its wide-ranging benefits, separating negative emotions from assessing its impact, and offering a compelling case attached to an overarching goal, pro-traders have a long way to go. Thankfully, research institutions like the German Marshall Fund and the Third Way are continuing to offer incredibly valuable and timely information that will help accurately inform the American people, in addition to their policy makers, in the debate over trade.