Skip to content

Xinhua Commentary: Trade Protectionism Won’t Solve the Problems the U.S. Faces

Xinhua carried a commentary that a professor from Fudan University wrote titled, “Trade Protectionism Will Not Solve the Problems the U.S. Faces.” The article said that, since Trump took office, he has publicly promoted “Buy American and Hire American.” He withdrew the U.S. from TPP and requested a renegotiation of NAFTA. These indicate that trade protectionism is on the rise and has become the latest unstable factor affecting the progress of the global economy. The article cited the following three reasons that trade protectionism will not solve the problems the U.S. faces. First, trade protectionism will harm the interests of the U.S. multinational corporations because they will lose the profits from trade while the foreign countries will lose on trade volume. Second, it will hurt the competitiveness of the U.S. economy because even though, on a short term basis, it will help the industries that are less competitive, it will also cause those industries to lose the motive to expand and advance in technological renovation. Therefore, they will become less competitive in the global market. Third, it will damage the future of the U. S. economy because the possible global trade war will seriously affect those U.S. companies that rely on exports. As the U.S. focuses on its own interests and becomes isolated and selfish, it will weaken the confidence of investors from the U.S. and around the world. Therefore it will not help U.S. economic growth in the long term. The article concluded that, if U.S. does not face its own domestic economy, political, and social structure issues but rather blames unfairness and an imbalance in international trade deals, it will not help to solve its own problems. Rather, it will hurt others as well as itself.

Source: Xinhua, February 26, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-02/26/c_129496228.htm