Editorial Comment: US shakes off its torpor on trade

Financial Times Wednesday 30th March, 2011

A bold experiment is taking place in Washington. The White House, caution be damned, is contemplating the radical departure of actually having a trade policy. Democrats' suspicion of globalisation - on which they wrongly place most blame for rising inequality and unemployment - has prevented the US from even ratifying bilateral deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia left over from the previous administration.Instead, the White House has tried to give the impression of action with a distracting sound-and-light show - first proclaiming it wants to double exports in five years, without much sense of how to do it, and now starting a review of the government agencies that deal with trade. No doubt the administrative furniture could be arranged more neatly - the trick is to give more resour...

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