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From: mms1646@acf4.UUCP (Michael M. Sykora)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: War With Japan.  (Who is for fair trade?)
Message-ID: <1340027@acf4.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Apr-85 10:43:00 EST
Article-I.D.: acf4.1340027
Posted: Sat Apr 20 10:43:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Apr-85 07:25:03 EST
References: <5162@cbscc.UUCP>
Organization: New York University
Lines: 41

>/* pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) /  4:09 pm  Apr 18, 1985 */

>Now, I *do* think Japan's trade policies are unfair.  They do
>not allow consumers in their country the same access to American
>goods as we allow for their products here.  But what is so easily
>overlooked is that American trade policies with the Third World
>are even more unfair than Japan's are with us.  Third World countries
>are strongly discouraged from developing manufactured products for
>U.S. markets (and those of other developed countries) by high import
>tariffs and trade restrictions.  Consequently, many of these countries
>must depend on two or three major cash crops or raw materials for export.
>The price of raw materials on the world market fluctuates dramatically
>compared to manufactured goods, contributing to the instability of
>Third World economies.

>All the screaming going on about Japan's trade practices might be
>a little more justified if the U.S. consistently practiced what
>it is preaching to Japan.  Surely the American public isn't much
>aware of what's going on (we just enjoy relatively stable and cheap
>prices on bananas without realizing that the countries which produce
>those bananas have to produce more and more of them to buy the same
>amount of manufactured goods that they depend on for their productivity),
>but certainly our legislators--screaming so loudly in Congress--are
>not ignorant of the situation (But then again, it's probably not
>a burning issue among their constituents; Japanese trade policy is).
>-- 
>
>Paul Dubuc 	cbscc!pmd
>/* ---------- */

You are right that our trade policies with the third world stink and 
that the clamor for protectionism is unjustified.  However, you
cite the wrong reasons.

Ultimately, the reason we should eliminate trade barriers to third
world nations and avoid them with Japan, is that they infringe on
the rights of Americans to trade with whomever they wish.  They are
essentially a means for certain groups to extort wealth from American 
consumers that they could not obtain in the marketplace voluntarily.

					Michael Sykora