A New Era Of Trade Wars Looms

From what Mr. Obama said during last year's campaign, we already know he is no real fan of free trade. His comments about NAFTA and the pending South Korea and Columbia trade agreements made that abundantly clear. Now, as part of this new stimulus package, contractors getting funding will be required to "Only Buy American". While, if you're an American, that sounds pretty good, it might not sit too well with our trading partners who might be just as deep in a recession as we are.

Let me make this very clear. America is no longer the most powerful exporter in the world. We haven't been for the last 4 decades. As a consequence, any trade barriers will hurt our businesses the most. Like the old saying... Beggars can't be choosers. Now, in the midst of a recession, we want to be the choosers. I really think we should be out their pushing trade agreements that give us the greatest avenues to sell our products. Saying that we're only buying American, just gives Japan, China, France and England a leg up in selling things like heavy equipment, motorcycles, steel, generators, etc. to other countries if those countries are locked out from selling their own products to us. Protectionism has never worked. Somebody ought to tell Mr. Obama and our Congress that.