Lenin in Essen

[Seth Ackerman]

	Doug Henwood wrote:

> Seth Ackerman wrote:
> 
> >Chief executives from leading US companies will warn the Bush
> administration
> >on Friday that US trade is falling behind while the European Union,
> Mexico
> >and even Japan forge ahead with new free trade agreements that could be
> >hostile to US interests.
> 
> "Free trade" is always in crisis, it seems. Alarming signs of trade 
> wars, breakdowns into regional blocs, wavering commitments, worrying 
> backlashes. And yet the agenda goes from strength to strength. The 
> crisis is necessary because, as the old saying goes, trade 
> liberalization is like a bicycle - you have to keep going forward or 
> you fall over.
.

In the Business Roudtable report, they talk about a major shift in just the
past few years. America used to be the indispensible nation without which no
major free trade initiatives would happen, partly because our competitors
lacked the will to challenge us. But now that's changed, they say,
describing what they call an explosion in the number the non-U.S. trade
agreements, mostly done by the EU.

Maybe they're bluffing again, though.

Seth