Key Trade Issues

Noteworthy

"The simple fact is that highly skilled foreign-born workers make enormous contributions to our economy [...] The US will find it far more difficult to maintain its competitive edge over the next 50 years if it excludes those who are able and willing to help us compete. Other nations are benefiting from our misguided policies."
Bill Gates,
Testimony before the Committee on Science and Technology, US House of Representatives,
March 12, 2008.

Unilateral Sanctions

Using trade as a weapon of foreign policy has harmed America's economic interests in the world without advancing national security. The proliferation of trade sanctions in the 1990s has been accompanied by their declining effectiveness. From Cuba to Iran to Burma, sanctions have failed to achieve the goal of changing the behavior or the nature of target regimes. Sanctions have managed only to deprive American companies of investment opportunities and market share and to punish domestic consumers, while hurting the poor and most vulnerable in the target countries.

Since 1993, according to the president's Export Council, the United States has imposed more than 40 trade sanctions against about three dozen foreign countries. The council estimates that those sanctions have cost American exporters $15 billion to $19 billion in lost annual sales overseas, and caused long-term damage to U.S. companies--lost market share and reputations abroad as unreliable suppliers.

As well as inflicting economic damage, sanctions have been a foreign policy flop. A comprehensive study by the Institute for International Economics found that sanctions achieve their objectives in fewer than 20 percent of cases. For example, the Nuclear Proliferation Act of 1994 failed to deter India and Pakistan from testing nuclear weapons in May of 1998. Sanctions have utterly failed to change the nature or basic behavior of governments in Cuba, Burma, Iran, Nigeria, Yugoslavia, and a number of other target countries.


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    Trade Briefing Papers

    Speeches and Testimony

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    Commentary


Commentary

Immigration law should reflect our dynamic labor market
by Daniel Griswold
April 27, 2008

America will be poorer as Obama pursues the wealthier
by Sallie James
April 23, 2008

When employment lines cross borders
by Daniel Griswold
April 21, 2008

Dems betray our ally Colombia
by Daniel Griswold
April 18, 2008

View all

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