elites discover so-called 'free trade' killing the economy, middle class

[pampango]

7. "It’s easy to point the finger at Nafta and other trade agreements for job losses, but there is a

far bigger culprit: currency manipulation. A 2012 paper from the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that the American trade deficit has increased by up to $500 billion a year and the country has lost up to five million jobs because China, South Korea, Malaysia and other countries have boosted their exports by suppressing the value of their currency.

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The trade agreements the Obama administration is negotiating provide a chance for the United States to press countries to stop manipulating their currencies. The administration appears to be afraid that raising the issue could scuttle the talks. It’s time the administration stiffened its spine.

The president also needs to make clear to America’s trading partners that they need to adhere to enforceable labor and environmental regulations. This would level the playing field for American workers and improve the lives of tens of millions of workers in developing countries. If done right, these agreements could improve the ground rules of global trade, as even critics of Nafta like Representative Sander Levin, Democrat of Michigan, have argued. They could reduce abuses like sweatshop labor, currency manipulation and the senseless destruction of forests.

The Obama administration also needs to do much more to counter the demands of corporations with those of the public interest. Consumer and workers groups should have been on the same industry advisory committees. And Mr. Froman, the trade representative, must make clear that these agreements will allow countries to adopt regulations without the threat of a lawsuit from powerful businesses. On patents, the agreements should not cut off developing countries’ access to lifesaving generic medicines.

A study published last year blamed increased imports from China for 44 percent of the decline in manufacturing employment from 1990 to 2007. (Much of the rest of the decline was blamed on increased productivity due to the increased use of technology and automation.) People who lost those jobs were more likely to stop seeking work or to find lower-wage jobs in other industries, suggesting that government programs to retrain workers hurt by trade are inadequate. A second paper by the same scholars concluded that the negative impact of imports from Mexico and Central American nations with which the United States has agreements were “economically small and statistically insignificant.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/this-time-get-global-trade-right.html?_r=0

Nice editorial. If the administration is unable or unwilling to include action on currency manipulation and enforceable labor and environmental regulations, it should walk away from the TPP.