Protectionists serve up tainted fruit and red herrings
by Paul Krugman
Would President Clinton have suffered his humiliating rebuff over fast-track trade legislation if the administration had not wasted crucial months failing to take the issue seriously? I don’t know. Will that rebuff severely damage the world trading system? I don’t know. Is this the beginning of a more fundamental backlash against globalization? I don’t know that, either.
What I do know is that the arguments advanced by fast track’s intellectual opponents are stunningly specious. Consider the tale of the tainted berries.
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