Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheRiseandRetreatoftheNewWorldOrder 277

differentialimpactsofHamiltoniantradepolicyonvariousregionsand
economicsectorsintheUnitedStates.Manufacturingwas,ofcourse,a
heavyloser,andsowerestatesandregionshistoricallymostdependent
onthoseindustries.From 1900 to1970,thepercentageoftheAmerican
workforce engagedin manufacturingincreased by roughlya third;15
after1970,allthesegainswerelost,andbyApril 2001 thepercentageof
theworkforceengagedinmanufacturingwasone-thirdlessthanithad
beenin19°0.16
Workers,ofcourse,sufferedtheconsequences,buttherewasalsoa
majorshiftofpowerandwealthawayfromold-styleheavy-metalmanu-
facturingcompanies.AcomparisonoftheFortune 500 listofthelargest
Americancorporationsin 1972 and 2000 illustratestheshift.In 1972
LTVSteelCompany,Inc.,ranked 2 Ionthelist;by 2000 ithadfallento
384;andbytheendofthatyearithadfiledforChapterIIbankruptcy.
USSteelranked 13 in1972;itssuccessor,USX,was 5 I in2000.Bethle-
hemSteelfellfrom 30 to412;ReynoldsMetalsfrom 123 to335.'7The
declinesofthesecompaniesandindustrieshada counterpartinregional
economies;whileCaliforniaandtheSunBeltenjoyedpopulationgrowth
and rising incomesduring the period, midwesternand northeastern
citiesandstatesfacedmuchmoredifficultconditions.Notsurprisingly
thosedifficultieswerereflectedintheattitudesofmanyelectedrepresen-
tativestowardeconomicchangesandthosedeemedresponsibleforthem.

U

.S.tradepolicyinthe1990Swasnotsimplyaboutmarketopen-
ingacross theboard. Internationaltradenegotiationsinvolve
trade-offsandpriorities. FortheUnitedStatesinthelate1980sand
1990S,thismeantofferingmostforeignmanufacturersandcertaincom-
modityproducersincreasedaccesstoAmericanmarketsinexchangefor
greateropportunitiesabroadforAmericanfinancialfirms,servicecompa-
nies,andtheentertainmentindustry.AtthesametimetheUnitedStates
acquiesced in continuing subsidies, export promotion schemes, and
otherinterferenceinagriculturaltradefromtheEuropeanUnion(EU)
andJapan.Thesepolicydecisionshadclearregionalandsocialconse-
quences. Despite the long Americaneconomic expansion, corn and
wheatpricesinthelate1990Ssankinrealtermstolevelslastseeninthe
I840s. 18 Europeanoppositiontogeneticallymodifiedagriculturalprod-
uctsthreatenedAmericanfarmerswitha choicebetweenlowerproduc-
tivityanddiminishedaccesstokeyforeignmarkets.
HamiltonianscouldanddidarguethatU.S.tradepolicywassound.