Protectionism in Textiles

In today’s Washington Post, there is an article by Jeannine Aversa about how Bush administration is concerned about cheap textile imports from China and their plans to “protect” the market.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China escalated Wednesday when the Bush administration said it will set new limits on the amount of clothing that China can ship to America.

It was the second time in five days that Washington announced such quotas, acting on complaints that a surge of Chinese apparel was hurting U.S. companies.

The article contains a classic bureaucratic doublespeak:

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Wednesday's decision "demonstrates the administration's continued commitment to America's textile manufacturers and their employees."

The United States, he said, "will enforce our trade agreements to ensure that U.S. companies get a fair deal as they compete in the global marketplace."

This is a fair deal for whom? It certainly isn’t a fair deal for consumers. We’re only to happy to discount any fairness towards the working poor around the world. This is a sweet deal for a few people who are losing in global marketplace. Over time, these people will find new jobs that will be more productive. That’s a given because their current jobs are obviously unproductive because the free market is eliminating them.

No one owes these people job security. If you can’t make a go of you current career: Go start a blog or something. It’s no fair messing up the free market to help a few people. And these people will lose their jobs over time anyway.

Another point here: isn’t the Republican Party supposed to be the free trade party? I guess not. I wonder why no party wants to protect consumers from the politicization of trade? That’s the kind of protectionism I would like.