A slow fade for free trade

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/12/EDGTSNNQE.DTL

Costa Rica voted this week to join a free trade zone with U.S. and six other Central American nations. Another pact with Peru is close to approval in Washington.

Yet the momentum behind free trade, an underlying tenet of an ever-rising world economy, couldn't be weaker. Never an easy sell, the notion of lowered import barriers is losing ground in both Democratic and Republicans ranks.

Stagnant wages, jobs shipped overseas and even tainted Chinese toys all play into a soured public mood. Protectionism - and the smaller, more manageable world it promises - is starting to look good.

Overseas the mood is just as gloomy. A string of Latin American countries, led by Venezuela, have cranked up the anti-Yankee rhetoric, picturing free trade as a disguised plot to exploit smaller countries.

These gripes aren't as new as the waning enthusiasm in this country. The weak chance for future agreements is evident to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is pushing Congress to approve trade pacts with Panama, Colombia and South Korea along with Peru. "We in the United States cannot afford to turn inward, to become fearful ... or to give in to doubt or despair," she said.

This near-eulogy on the White House side is matched by a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this week stating that Republican voters by a 2-to-1 margin think free trade is bad for the country.

FULL story at link.

[Breeze54]

1. Now that's uplifting. The American people have

known this for a long time! It's the bureaucrat's that could care less about the workers.
Maybe it explains the hypersensitivity on a lot of message boards and other people's moods.
I know it's been on my back for quite awhile now. Thanks for posting that.