Regulating unfair trade
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Regulating unfair trade
Brookings Institution, c1993
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-184) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780815760894
Description
"In the early 1980s, American complaints about unfair trade practices began to intensify. Sunrise industries, such as manufacturers of semiconductors and telecommunications equipment, joined older complainants, including steel and textile producers, in seeking more safeguards against international competitors who priced their products too aggressively or whose governments subsidized exports or protected home markets. In this politically charged atmosphere, the U.S. government has devised increasingly stringent regulatory programs to address the claimed abuses and distortions. In this book, Pietro Nivola examines the strenuous effort to combat the objectionable trading practices of other countries. Through most of the postwar period, Nivola notes, policymakers had deemed it in the nation's economic and strategic interests to tolerate asymmetries and infractions in the international trading order. But that tolerance has been sharply lowered by heightened sensitivity to inequities, and a growing conviction that government should intervene, frequently and forcefully, to ensure a ""level playing field."" The book maintains that foreign protectionism lower East-West tensions, and alleged American decline in the face of international competition cannot fully explain the stiffening regulation of unfair trade. The world trading system, Nivola contends, is not more restrictive now than it was earlier. Cries about foreign commercial transgressions in recent years have remained shrill despite a formidable U.S. export boom and an improved current account valance. Much of the U.S. regulatory activity has acquired a political momentum of its own. The activity has increased not just because global competitive pressures have generally intensified but because we have developed more ways and inducement to complain about those pressures. Nivola cautions that trade regulations now bears too much of the burden for ameliorating economic imbalances and deficiencies. The tendency adds to a sense of frustration that fuels demands for additional regulations. While recognizing the need for an explicit and responsible trade policy, Nivola concludes that such a policy must be based, first and foremost, on realistic expectations. Trade actions need to compliment, not subordinate, a more basic agenda: improvement in the national rates of saving and investment, better preparation of the work force, control of runaway health care costs, less litigation, and more regulatory reform-all of which are likely to be far more consequential for the nation's long-term competitiveness and living standards.
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- Volume
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ISBN 9780815760900
Description
In the early 1980s, American complaints about unfair trade practices began to intensify. Sunrise industries such as manufacturers of semiconductors and telecommuniications equipment joint older complainants, including steel and textile producers, in seeking more safeguards against foreign competitors who priced their products too aggressively or whose governments subsidized exports or protected home markets. They demanded that increasingly stringent rules be enforced against the worst offenders. In this book, Pietro Nivola analyzes the US government's efforts to combat the objectionable trading practices of other countries. Through most of the postwar period, Nivola notes, policymakers had deemed it in the nation's economic and strategic interests to tolerate asymmetries and infractions in the international trading order. But that tolerance has been sharply lowered by new sensitivity to inequities and a growing conviction that government should intervene to ensure a "level playing field". Nivola maintains that foreign protectionism and American decline in the face of international competition cannot completely explain the stiffening regulation of unfair trade.
The world trading system, he argues, is not more restrictive now than it was before and the crises about foreign commercial transgressions have remained strident despite a formidable US export boom. Some of the US regulatory activity has acquired a political momentum of its own, in part because it offers policymakers the ends and means to aid constituents at relatively little risk. Nivola cautions that trade regulation now bears too much of the burden for ameliorating economic imbalances and deficiencies. The resulting sense of frustration induces demands for still more regulatory remedies. While recognizing the need for more explicit and responsible trade policy, Novola concludes that such a policy must be based, first and foremost, on realistic expectations. More than lip service will have to be paid to the fact that trade actions cannot continue to take precedence over a more basic agenda: improvement in the national rates of saving and investment, better preparation of the work force, and changes in industrial organization - all of which are likely to be far more consequential for the nation's long-term competitiveness and living standards.
by "Nielsen BookData"