Wednesday, September 14, 2011

"This outrageous affront to our national sovereignty..."

"This outrageous affront to our national sovereignty was of course predictable when we joined the WTO.  During congressional debates we were assured that entry into the organization posed no threat to our sovereignty.  A well-known libertarian think tank, where you might expect some skepticism of a supra-national bureaucracy managing trade, offered us this rosy description: "The WTO's dispute settlement mechanism helps nations resolve trade disputes without resorting to costly trade wars.  The system relies on voluntary compliance and does not compromise national sovereignty."  That was nonsense.  A Congressional Research Service report was quite clear about the consequences of our membership: "As a member of the WTO, the United States does commit to act in accordance with the rules of the multi-lateral body.  It is legally obligated to insure that national laws do not conflict with WTO rules."

The WTO has given us the worst of both worlds:  we've sacrificed national sovereignty by changing our domestic laws at the behest of an international body, yet we still face trade wars over a variety of products.  If anything, the WTO makes trade relations worse by providing our foreign competitors with a collective means to attack U.S. trade interests." -Page 98 of The Revolution, A Manifesto

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