Redstate

Posted at 6:50pm on Mar. 8, 2008 Good Neighbors! Multilateralism! Diplomacy! Respect Throughout The World!

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that for about as long as the Bush Administration has been in office, Democrats have promised that when they get a chance to run things, they will make sure that we are respected, loved and admired throughout the world. Of course, if you subscribe--as I do--to the realist theory of international relations, you believe that permanent national interests have a great deal more to do with the shape and tenor of international relations than do the identities of a particular head of government and his/her advisers.

But never mind that last bit. Let's assume that identity of personnel does a lot more to influence the nature of international relations than I give it credit for. If that actually is the case, then our neighbors have every right to have the dickens scared out of them when they consider what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton might do to America's trade relationships:

FOR the United States' two immediate neighbours, the Democratic Party's primary campaign has been an unedifying spectacle. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have tried to outdo each other in blaming the woes of middle America on the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. Both candidates have called for the agreement to be renegotiated, to insert tougher labour and environmental standards.

To politicians across the borders that looks irresponsible. Since it came into force in 1994, NAFTA has benefited all three economies, raising cross-border trade and investment. That applies especially to Mexico. Not by coincidence, since the signing of NAFTA Mexico has become a democracy and achieved economic stability. This has not halted the flow of migrants to the north. But their numbers would almost certainly have been greater without the agreement--or if its labour clauses were tougher.

Officials in both countries want more economic integration, not less. Mexican ministers worry that the Democrats' rhetoric plays into the hands of the unreconstructed segments of their country's left. Last month these groups organised a protest, attended by tens of thousands of farmers, against NAFTA. Even though commodity prices are at record highs, the farmers worry that the final ending of import tariffs on maize and beans this year will hurt their livelihoods by opening the way to subsidised American imports.

Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, had a smart riposte for the Democrats. "Of course, if any American government ever chose to make the mistake of opening it [NAFTA], we would have some things we would want to talk about as well." Some Canadians particularly dislike a clause that allows companies to sue governments over regulations they dislike. Others argue that including Mexico has made it harder to sort out problems on Canada's border with the United States.

Read on . . .

Posted in Barack Obama | Economy | Hillary Clinton | The Whole World's Watching! | Trade Policies — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »