December 6, 2007
BRUSSELS -- Americans are becoming less likely than Europeans to favor free trade, foreign investment or immigration, according to a survey of opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, a break with stereotype that reflects growing unease and isolationism in the U.S. as the economy falters.
The survey, commissioned by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., a think tank, and released yesterday found that a growing number of people in the U.S. -- 57%, up from 51% in 2005 -- believe free trade costs more jobs than it creates. Europeans, meanwhile, have become less suspicious of trade's effects. Forty-six percent of Europeans surveyed said trade costs jobs, down from 50% in 2005, the survey said.
Similarly, fewer Americans said they favored freer trade. While 60% of Americans said they thought trade should be more free, that compared with 69% in Europe. Americans also showed the strongest aversion to foreign companies investing in their economy, with 40% saying they opposed it, compared with 30% for Europe as a whole. U.S. support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, has also declined somewhat, to 60% from 64% last year.
Overall, a majority of Americans still support the principles of free trade and globalization, but that support is waning, according to the survey. Candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential election nomination have picked up that theme as they campaign ahead of the primaries. At the same time the survey found that Europe, often derided for its protectionist instincts and resistance to immigration, has become slightly more open. Those diverging trends may reflect simple economic circumstances. Europe's economy has been recovering lately from a long period of stagnation, while economic growth in the U.S. has been declining.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119686183675014431.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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