The politics of foreign policy today 645global markets become completely open, some American communities will still suffer
because of increased foreign imports. While there are some federal programs to retrain
workers whose jobs are eliminated because of new trade agreements, many workers
who have lost their jobs due to globalization are not eligible for these programs, and
others are unaware that they exist. Moreover, it is often extremely difficult to retrain
people to compete for new jobs that will provide pay and benefits comparable to what
they received in their former positions. In addition, there are no systematic American
efforts to help citizens of other countries who are hurt by globalization.One of the effects of globalization is
outsourcing—moving jobs to different
countries, usually to take advantage
of lower wages and looser restrictions
on manufacturing practices. Here,
workers in China assemble electronic
products for a foreign company.Finally, globalization raises new human rights questions. For example, do U.S.
companies such as Apple, which has outsourced the production of iPhones to factories
in China, have a responsibility to monitor conditions in these factories and ensure that
workers there are paid a fair wage? More generally, should the United States increase its
trade with a country such as China that restricts the political, religious, and social freedoms
of its citizens in ways that most Americans would find objectionable? Or should it push
for as much trade as possible, on the grounds that exposure to American commerce and
culture will encourage the other country’s citizens to press their government for reforms?
Trade is an example of a more general phenomenon: the state of each national
economy is increasingly linked to economic conditions throughout the world. For
example, China has an enormous trade surplus with America and holds hundreds
of billions of dollars in American government bonds. Some observers believe these
assets give the Chinese the ability to severely damage the American economy, either
by withholding exports or by selling large quantities of American government bonds
on international markets, thus raising the interest rate the United States would have to
offer to finance its budget deficit. However, the Chinese economy is equally vulnerable.
Eliminating the U.S. market for exports would leave Chinese factories without one of their
major buyers. And selling bonds at below-market prices to increase American interest
rates would likely damage the Chinese economy even more than the American economy.
One way to respond to these complications is to take a stand along the lines of
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs—that the United States should renegotiate trade
agreements to protect American workers and increase American exports, with the
threat that America will impose high import tariffs on countries that refuse to complyWhat I’m saying is this: I’m
saying that we do it, but if they
[China] don’t start treating us
fairly and stop devaluing and let
their currency rise so that our
companies can compete and we
don’t lose all of these millions
of jobs that we’re losing I would
certainly start taxing goods that
come in from China. Who the hell
has to lose $505 billion a year?—Donald Trump, Republican
debate, January 13, 2016Full_18_APT_64431_ch17_614-654.indd 645 16/11/18 11:22 AM