Download Fair Trade Policies

Rutgers Model Congress
Massachusetts/ Republican
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Fair Trade Policies
Wilson Xu
East Brunswick High School
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In a world where progress is everything, the United States must look to regain the
seat at the head of the great world powers. By increasing our own economic status, we
can become a shining beacon in the dark and dreary world of this worldwide economic
recession. A key concept to the improvement of the United States is free trade. Free trade
is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from
government. Thus, the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade, with
goods and services produced according to the law of comparative advantage. Under a free
trade policy, prices are a reflection of true supply and demand, and are the sole
determinant of resource allocation. Through this ideology, the United States can expand
into foreign markets. The advantages of having free trade over fair trade can be seen in
three major areas, financially, morally, and socio-politically. Being citizens of American,
we must see the promotion of free trade policies as the most prominent way to improve
position of the United States.
From a financial point of view, free trade is beneficial to get out of this economic
recession. The current position can be attributed to the protectionism that America has
gone through for the past decades. The laissez-faire doctrine allows a country to grow
infinitely due to the lack of government regulation (Bhagwati 25). This takes away any
cautionary guidelines and allows a country to work at its highest potential. A good
example is during the period of the roaring twenties, America initiated free trade with the
European Union and expanded its GDP by 50% from 1920 to 1929 (Brakman 139). This
sudden increase led to the expansion of markets world wide, as more countries wanted to
trade with the now powerful United States. In addition, free trade allows two strong
countries to help each other get stronger. A good example is repealing of the Corn Law
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import-ban that would allow 1830s Britain to sell cotton clothing to wheat-exporting
nations (Friedman 65). This was called trade creation, which allowed partners to create
markets in other countries, while maintaining its share of world trade. In the present job
crisis, free trade can also provide jobs. Many developing nations are rich in raw materials
that the United States needs in order to stimulate growth. By allowing free trade, America
can buy more raw materials, which in turn creates more jobs to process these raw
materials into exportable products. Free trade is the formula for the expansion of this
country economically and set this country back on its feet.
Morally, free trade hits hard and touches upon every day aspects of life. Primarily,
free trade is a right. Holding one of the principles of eternal justice to be inalienable right
of every man freely to exchange the result of his labour for the productions of other
people true, one can infer that free trade is guaranteed by the fact that man is allowed to
harvest what he sowed (Friedman 67). Free trade is as ethical as collect one’s paycheck.
Both the country and the man have worked hard at his job and deserve a payment for his
work. Next, free trade diminishes possibility of war. Free trade encourages
interdependence between countries. An example would be the trade between Eastern
Europe and Western Europe. Western Europe relies on the oil supply of Eastern Europe,
while Eastern Europe depends on the industrial products of Eastern Europe.
Economically, if Russia was to go to war with Eastern Europe, it would lose valuable
resources and be forced to end the war due to the inability to support its troops. The same
is vice versa. Eastern Europe would be hard pressed for oil to fuel its industrial-driven
economy. Finally, free trade decreases the poverty level. Free trade leads a race to the
bottom. Big businesses push down prices to incent buyers to purchase their products over
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a competitor. In this situation, the poor can now afford things that maybe they could not
before. In the late 1800s, children from poverty stricken families had to leave school in
order to help the family earn enough money for food. If Wal-Mart existed back then, the
family would be able to find affordable food and appliances thanks to free trade
worldwide, and the child would be able to learn more and get a better life. Free trade
practices gives citizens of countries all over the world a chance to live better lives and
free themselves from opposition.
Free trade can improve how we feel about society and life in the United States.
Free trade can enhance national security, on the condition that a nation does not trade
with its enemies. Free trade increases a nation's power in relation to its rivals, because
free trade gives optimal economic advantages, which translates into more economic and
military power and more technological innovation. A clear example is the US, which
enjoys free trade. Its military expenditures of about $500 billion would weigh heavy on
its economy (Batra 298). During World War II, the closed-economy Soviet Union had to
spend 15-20% of its GDP to equal the US, opposed to the 4% of its GDP currently
(MacArthur 178). According to most economists, heavy military expenditures slow the
economic growth of an economy. Once the burden becomes too high, an economy
recesses, forcing the military expenditures to be decreased. According to many political
scientists, this was the case in the 1980s in the Soviet Union (Gilpin 4) . Free trade also
indirectly supports the spread of other cultures. Free trade allows countries to exchange
cultural items, like Aloe drinks from China or curry from India. This allows people to
appreciate other countries more as they are more in touch with their products. By
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allowing free trade to exist, we can solve common problems that thousands of dollars
couldn’t do.
Free trade practices are not just for economical boosters, but also for creating a
better world in general. Solving problems in the market place to problems at home, free
trade is the utility formula that this country needs. As a Republican congressional
representative from Massachusetts, my platform is centered mostly on big business, but I
want to help the American public to find a common ground between the people and
corporations. Free trade is something that everyone can agree on, especially those living
in a crisis like this one. In this society, solutions are limited, but one thing is for certain.
Promoting free trade policies is the one stop for all of this countries needs. Vote trade,
vote aid.
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Works Cited
Batra, Raveendra N. The Great American Deception : What Politicians Won’t Tell You
about our Economy and your Future . New York, NY: J. Wiley, 1996.
Bhagwati, Jagdish. Free Trade Today. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2002.
Brakman, Steve. Nations and Firms in the Global Economy : An Introduction to
International Economics and Business. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006.
Engler, Mark. How to rule the world : The Coming Battle over the Global Economy .
New York, NY: Nation Books, 2007.
Friedman, Thomas L. The Lexus and the Olive tree. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, 1999.
Gilpin, Robert. Global Political Economy : understanding the international economic
order. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001.
MacArthur, John R. The Selling of “Free Trade” : NAFTA, Washington, and the
subversion of American democracy. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2000.