[The Times, U.K.]
Le Monde,
France
Trade Barriers Will
Damage All Nations
"Closing borders to men is as
dangerous - and often as illusory - as closing them to foreign products. The
answer involves more social protection and greater international solidarity. Not
the reverse."
EDITORIAL
Translated By L.
McKenzie Zeiss
February 3, 2009
France
- Le Monde - Original Article (French)
Workers across the Channel who
strike to demand “British jobs for British workers”; an American House of
Representatives who, under pressure from the AFL-CIO, are attempting to reserve
aid for businesses that use U.S. steel; a Russian Prime Minister who denounces
protectionism but increases import duties on foreign vehicles; the French
finance minister, known for her liberalism, who expressed before retracting
that “protectionism may be a necessary evil”…The current crisis can count a new
victim: free trade. Under pressure from their constituents, the responsible politicians
turn cassock [do an about face] and balk at concluding negotiations on trade
liberalization, as they were engaged in doing last November, during the G20
summit.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The contradiction hasn't been
lost on the business community. If in Davos, leaders reiterated their commitment
to open borders, all participants noted that everywhere, banks would shift
their focus toward their national clients. For the first time, 2008 marked a
decline in global trade.
The distress of populations confronted
with mounting unemployment is more than understandable. Nevertheless, it isn't
protectionism that they need - but protection. Notably, social protections in
the event of job loss. It's not by chance that unions in the United States and
Great Britain are the most set against the opening of borders: these are the
two Western countries where the unemployed are the least supported by the wider
community.
[The
Telegraph, U.K.]
Protectionism cannot be
justified except to protect a nascent industry or an economy in transition. Among
developed countries, it makes scarcely any sense. What interest would France
serve by extending its own protections, while more than one French wage earner
in four depends on exports? To buy less from abroad is also to sell less abroad.
Worse: it is sometimes no more than a step from protectionism to xenophobia. In
Ireland, an anti-Polish sentiment is mounting; in Great Britain, the extreme
right supports striking workers.
And yet, if they are subject
to the same rules as inhabitants of the country in which they settle, immigrants
promote growth. Closing borders to men is as dangerous - and often as illusory -
as closing them to foreign products. The answer involves more social protection
and greater international solidarity. Not the reverse.
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US February 6, 1:25pm]
