Progressives Forget Their Free-Trade Heritage at
Own Peril
The most striking change in economic thinking on the
mainstream left is the end of its romance with free trade. Bill Clinton and
Tony Blair believed that the best way to create wealth was to lower trade
barriers and invest in education. Today’s progressives dismiss that view as at
best naive and at worst irresponsible. For them, the government’s job is far
more capacious: subsidizing “critical industries,” raising trade barriers to
hostile powers, pursuing industrial policy and forging strategic partnerships
with business.
Biden embraced Trump’s tariffs. It might be his
undoing.
Voters may have railed against globalization in the
past. But they also got used to the low prices.
The terrible lesson Biden learned from Trump on
trade
President Biden’s proposed tariffs on steel and
aluminum will hurt manufacturing workers.
As globalization unwinds, the world is still
growing more unequal
The Global Turn Away from Free-Market Policies
Worries Economists
More countries are embracing measures meant to
encourage their own security and independence, a trend that some say could slow
global growth.
The world needs reminding — governments are not
good at picking winners
To break the vicious protectionist cycle, we need new
rules of the game.