American trade politics / I.M. Destler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Destler, I. M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Commercial policy.

United States.

Commercial policy.

Physical Description:

xv, 337 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Institute for International Economics ; New York : Twentieth Century Fund, 1995.

Summary:

Awarded the American Political Science Association's Gladys Kammerer award for the best book on US national policy, American Trade Politics examines how the US policymaking process has enabled the United States to reduce its own import barriers and lead the world toward a more open trading regime. Since the 1970s, enormous political changes, compounded by unprecedented US trade deficits, have brought institutional erosion and some backsliding on trade policy.

In this third edition Destler extends his analysis to asses the politics of the extraordinarily contentious debates over NAFTA and the Uruguay Round. He explains how free traders overcame the opposing forces represented by H. Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Ralph Nader to secure congressional approval for the two most important US trade agreements in the postwar period. The liberal trade regime survived these latest challenges, but Destler nevertheless argues that there is a need for reform of the policymaking system in the 1990s to advance US-led free trade negotiations in the Western Hemisphere and the Asia Pacific as well as future rounds of global liberalization.

Contents:

I Origin

1 Trade Politics: The Root Problem, the Continuing Crisis 3

2 The Old System: Protection for Congress 11

Protecting Congress from Trade Pressures 14

The "Bargaining Tariff" 16

The "Bicycle Theory" and "Export Politics" 17

The Executive Broker 18

"The Rules" 21

Deals for "Special Cases" 24

Strong Congressional Committees 27

Trade as a Nonparty Issue 30

The System's Advantages and Limits 32

The Contradictions of the System 34

The "Bargaining Tariff" as Vanishing Asset 34

International Openness Versus Domestic Intervention 35

Success as Multiplier of Trade Pressures 36

The Dilemma of the Rules 37

II Erosion

3 A Tougher World: Changes in the Context of Trade Policy 41

15 August as Prologue 41

The Trade Explosion 45

The "Decline" of the United States 47

The Rise of New Competitors 50

The Erosion of the GATT 53

Stagflation 54

Floating Exchange Rates and Dollar "Misalignment" 57

Economic Tripolarity and the End of the Cold War 61

A Tougher World 62

4 A Less Protected Congress 65

Congressional Reform and the Weakening of Ways and Means 67

Renewing the Delegation of Power: The "Fast-Track" Procedures 71

Industry-Specific Proposals: The Automobile Case 77

Committee Competition and Policy Entrepreneurship 80

The Trade and Tariff Act of 1984: Pressure Contained 84

1985-88: The Years of Trade 89

The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 92

Mexico and Fast-Track Renewal 98

1984 and After: The Leadership Difference 103

5 An Embattled Executive 105

STR's Early Ups and Downs 107

Strauss and the MTN: The STR on Center Stage 109

The Executive Broker and Its Critics 114

The Carter Reorganization 117

Reagan I: Commerce Versus USTR 118

USTR and Presidential Ambivalence 120

Liberal Words, Protectionist Deeds 122

Reagan II: An Eight-Month Vacuum 123

Reagan II: The Shift to Activism 125

Targeting the World: Section 301 126

Targeting Japan: From MOSS to Semiconductor Sanctions 128

Working the Trade Bill: Damage Limitation 131

Carla Hills and Super 301 132

Geneva Versus Mexico City? 134

Broker in Need of a Breakthrough 135

The USTR Enters Its Thirties 137

6 Changing the Rules: The Rise of Administrative Trade Remedies 139

Through the Early 1970s: Little Relief 141

The Trade Act of 1974 142

The Result: Slightly More Relief 145

The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 148

The Declining Use of the Escape Clause 150

The Decline of Trade Adjustment Assistance 152

The Upsurge in "Unfair Trade" Cases 154

Forcing Political Solutions 157

Steel Wins Comprehensive Protection 159

Trade-Remedies Reform: The Gibbons Bill 162

The Omnibus Legislation of 1986-88 164

Administrative Remedies: A Balance Sheet on the 1980s 166

The Limits of Administrative Remedies 170

7 The National Arena: More Open, More Partisan 175

An "Amazing Political Reversal"? 176

A Newly Ambivalent Elite 181

Challenges to Laissez-Faire Trade Doctrine 185

New Patterns of Interest-Group Politics 191

III Summation and Prescription

8 Summing Up: The System Held, But Stay Tuned 203

First, Some Good News 204

Next, The Bad News 208

Looking Ahead 214

9 1992-94: Missions Accomplished? 217

From Bush to Clinton 218

The NAFTA Debate: Clinton Cedes the Field to the Critics 222

Clinton Recovers, and Wins Big 224

Japan, China, and APEC 229

Brussels and Geneva: Completing the Uruguay Round 231

US Business, Human Rights, and the China Market 233

Japan: Failure and Modest Success 236

Implementing the Uruguay Round: A Slow Start 238

Antidumping: Reversing the Round 240

The Loss of Future Fast-Track 244

The WTO and US "Sovereignty" 245

Delaying the Process: Dole, Hollings, and Gingrich 247

From Partisan Wrangle to Bipartisan Victory 251

Looking to the Future 255

10 What to Do? A Framework for Future US Trade Policy 259

Policy for the Near Term 260

A New Agenda? 260

More Effective Trade Advocacy 261

A Trimmed-Down Fast-Track Process 261

Managing Trade Policy: A Basic Prescription 264

How Not to Cure Trade Imbalances 269

Trade With Japan: Right Problem, Wrong Solution 270

Getting Serious About Trade Imbalances 276

Education 276

Macroeconomic Policy 277

Microeconomic Policy: Promoting Adjustment and Productivity Growth 280

The Role of Trade Policy 285

Can the System Be Salvaged? 286

Policy Tools: International Negotiations 289

Flexibility on Fast-Track 290

Revising the Trade-Remedy Laws 290

Keeping Section 301 293

Using Section 301: Strategic Trade Policy or Sectoral Reciprocity? 294

A Separate Trade Policy Toward Japan? 297

A USTR-Based Trade Reorganization 298

Policy Tools: New Approaches to Trade Adjustment 302

In Defense of Trade Brokering 305

3.1 United States: nominal effective exchange rates, 1980-93 58

6.1 Escape clause investigations, 1975-94 151

6.2 Countervailing duty and antidumping investigations, 1979-94 151

3.1 United States: merchandise imports, exports, and trade balance, 1960-94 45

6.1 Antidumping, countervailing duty, and Section 201 investigations initiated, 1979-94 166

6.2 Antidumping cases and results, 1980-93 168.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0881322156

OCLC:

31756326