Economics: Turn Around Is Fair Game :: essays research papers

Economics Turn Around is Fair GameAmericas size and prosperity have made it the largest consumer ofimported products in the world. brilliantly lit shopping m whollys adorned with the slowlyst foreign-made apparel, gadgets and trinkets, testify to the vast selectionof goods available for purchase. There is a dark side to this enormous quantityof choices a hefty price tag - the federal deficit. Unfair trade agreements,and, predatory pricing strategies and institutionalizes from abroad, placed those goodson the stores shelves. The United States Trade Representative (USTR), who isdirectly answerable to the President and Congress for trade negotiations isforecasting a two hundred billion-dollar trade deficit for fiscal year 1996.The American people must subscribe reciprocal trade agreements for overseasbusiness competitors. Complimentary trading would put an end to subsidizeddumping, curb the loss of manufacturing jobs, and, tear down the barriersassociated with free trade.The practic e of selling items at a price less than what it costs to makethem is called dumping. Foreign governments subsidize the manufacturingprocesses of certain industries so their companies can displace thecompetitions fabrication. The television industry is a perfect example ofsubsidized dumping. The post World War II infusion of subsidized Japanese-madetelevisions, terminated the United States(U.S.) television manufacturingindustry. In the late 1950s, half a million units crossed our borders, tax andtariff free. These television sets were made using cheaper components andcheaper labor. However, the cost of transportation, which would normallyescalate each individual price, was salaried for by the Japanese government. Thepioneering inventors of the electronic marvel were forced out. No longer ableto compete by meeting rapidly declining prices, companies had to stop production,liquidate all available assets, and release their entire work force.Unemployment figures for 1996 are predicted to be at seven percent (USTR,1996.) This equates to nearly twenty million skilled American workers withoutjobs. The mathematics is simple imports cost an economy jobs, exports produce jobs.Reciprocal trading contracts would definitely curb the exponential loss ofmanufacturing jobs.Trade barriers are the largest problems facing American companies inoverseas markets. The obstructions are sometimes overt, sometimes hidden andusually extremely complex. Deals are covertly impeded with complicatedlicensing and import procedures. Regulations concerning special specificationstandards and examen of American goods are hurdles deliberately enacted toblock fair trade. If foreign governments were mandated to treat Americanbusinesses the same way native companies were treated, free commerce would rattlingbe achieved.The U.S. has used an arsenal of tools to try to mitigate unfair tradepractices and enhance U.S. access to overseas markets. These include department301 of the 1974 Trade Act - Sect ion 301 serves as the flagship of the