Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Free trade is not working

I used to be an eager believer in international free trade. Not anymore. The kind of free trade that has led to huge unemployment, with industrial production moving to cheap labour countries in Asia, has not benefited the great majority of people in the western countries.

More and more people in the U.S. and Europe are beginning to realise what is happening. The American economist Ian Fletcher, who´s book "Free Trade Does Not Work" has received a lot of positive attention recently, here explains what is wrong with the present cult of free trade:



PS

Free trade between e.g. the U.S. and Europe - possibly including countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand - where the economic, political and cultural systems are close to each other, could very well be a good option. 

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