The New Protectionism

Description

Protecting the Future Against Free Trade

By Tom Lang and Colin Hines
Foreword by Jim Hightower
The New Press

With the demise of communism, free trade ideology has become triumphant, and proponents now seek basic changes in the world’s economy. But this very expansion has brought with it many of the fundamental problems with free trade. In a sweeping and clear argument, The New Protectionism challenges the orthodox view that free trade benefits everyone and that treaties such as NAFTA and GATT create a new global prosperity.

The authors argue that, on the contrary,  free trade serves only a narrow range of established interests, and that to protect international equity and the global environment, trade must be put onto a different footing – a “new protectionism” – to reduce external trade while protecting and promoting local interests.

This new protectionism, claim Lang and Hines, presents a viable alternative to the status quo, and would contribute more to prosperity and social justice than would continued trade liberalization, as the NAFTA and GATT treaties propose. New policies are also needed to toughen environmental protection measures and create much-needed local jobs, the areas now most endangered by unfettered free trade.

The New Protectionism analyzes the powers behind the free trade argument–the transnational corporations and emerging superblocs–to present an important and radical outline of what a viable, more just future could be for a world facing huge economic and environmental problems in the twenty-first century.