I have a question about our re-negotiation of trade deals with our neighbors. ...
... I am asking what I think is a serious question concerning the re-negotiation of our Trade Deals. I am not sure why we would want to do that.
One thing has been vividly clear over the past 30-50 years. Our standard of living is such that our producers and their employees have to make more money than something produced in the third world. If we tear up the trade deals and say we want to re-work it; that frees up our trading partners to go shopping elsewhere, right?
If we can be so easily undercut; why would they still buy from us?
CandyCorn, the short answer to your question is that renegotiation of our USA trade agreements would not be, and USA unilaterally adopting the Import Certificate policy would be a remedy for USA's chronic annual trade deficits of goods.
Refer to Wikipedia's "Import Certificates" article.
USA very often cannot effectively compete with modern foreign production and lower foreign labor wage rates. Hours of labor directly and indirectly devoted to goods are of some relationship to wage rates and affect the quality of those goods.
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After World War Two, national economies recovered and their production capacity was rebuilt. USA foreign aid assisted many nations to modernize their production capacity while USA policies have and continue to encourage foreign investment rather than maintaining and i
mproving USA's capacity to compete. Today, much of our industrial production facilities and supporting infrastructures are now third rate or no longer exist.
[Federal corporate tax rates upon foreign earnings will now be half of what USA earnings are subject to. This would not be objectionable if USA adopted the trade policy described in Wikipedia's “Import Certificates” article.
I recall one comparatively small exception to these situations occurred after Sodom's Iraq troops were driven out of Kuwait and back to Baghdad. Kuwait's ruling and wealthy class was grateful for USA's leading role among the diplomatic and military coalitions of nations that rescued Kuwait. The military coalition included at very least some token and often some substantial Middle Eastern military equipment and troops, (which of course required that Israel not overtly participate). Kuwaitees did, and possibly conti
nue to demonstrate
their gratitude by their preferences for USA imported goods not due to monetary considerations.
Respectfully, Supposn