An expert analysis of key issues, individuals, and developments in U.S. trade policy from national, regional, and global perspectives. What is the proper balance between free trade and protecting the American economy? U.S. Trade Issues: A Reference Handbook is a timely exploration of this vital and politically sensitive question, one that emerged as a crucial issue in the 2008 presidential election. Written by a former chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission, it provides an authoritative, accessible, and unbiased review of the defining events, principal players, and key controversies in U.S. trade policy. U.S. Trade Issues describes American trade policies from the days of the republic to the present, focusing most intently on the post-World War II era. It explores a number of current issues, including the Doha Round of Multilateral Negotiations, NAFTA, and the president's trade authority. In addition, the handbook looks at American trade policy in the context of an increasingly globalized world economy.

This is a fully updated edition of the best-selling text on U.S. trade policy from colonial times to the current era of large trade imbalances. New coverage for this edition includes the WTO panels and conflicts, the battle in Seattle, struggles over Doha rounds and conflicts, growing tensions among major powers, splits between advanced and developing nations, increased terrorism, and risks of war.

Lovett (Tulane Law School), Eckes (a former commissioner of the U.S. International Commission during the Reagan and Bush I administrations), and Brinkman (international economics, Portland State U.) evaluate the evolution of U.S. trade policy, focusing on the period from the establishment of the Gen

Alfred Eckes and Thomas Zeiler argue that the "American Century" of global leadership resulted from revolutionary improvements in technology combined with the leadership elite's enthusiasm for free trade. The authors reveal how this formula helped the nation rise to economic power after the Spanish-American War, and win both world wars and the Cold War. America's power and cultural influence soared as business and financial interests pursued global market dominance in the following decade. But the tragic events of September 2001 and the growing volatility of global finance raise questions as to whether the era of American-led globalization is sustainable.

Alfred Eckes and Thomas Zeiler argue that the "American Century" of global leadership resulted from revolutionary improvements in technology combined with the leadership elite's enthusiasm for free trade. The authors reveal how this formula helped the nation rise to economic power after the Spanish-American War, and win both world wars and the Cold War. America's power and cultural influence soared as business and financial interests pursued global market dominance in the following decade. But the tragic events of September 2001 and the growing volatility of global finance raise questions as to whether the era of American-led globalization is sustainable.

Despite the passage of NAFTA and other recent free trade victories in the United States, former U.S. trade official Alfred Eckes warns that these developments have a dark side. Opening America's Market offers a bold critique of U.S. trade policies over the last sixty years, placing them within a historical perspective. Eckes reconsiders trade policy issues and events from Benjamin Franklin to Bill Clinton, attributing growing political unrest and economic insecurity in the 1990s to shortsighted policy decisions made in the generation after World War II. Eager to win the Cold War and promote the benefits of free trade, American officials generously opened the domestic market to imports but tolerated foreign discrimination against American goods. American consumers and corporations gained in the resulting global economy, but many low-skilled workers have become casualties. Eckes also challenges criticisms of the 'infamous' protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which allegedly worsened the Great Depression and provoked foreign retaliation. In trade history, he says, this episode was merely a mole hill, not a mountain. |A former U.S. trade official provides a critique of U.S. trade policies over the last 60 years, placing them within full historical perspective. (Please see cloth edition published 9/95.)