January 3, 2003
WHOSE TRADE BLOC WOULD YOU JOIN?:
'Axis of Good' for Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela? (Alan Clendenning, January 3, 2003, Associated Press)Breakfast with Hugo Chavez, dinner with Fidel Castro.The first day in office for Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, projects the image of a leftist alliance in Latin America -- one that Chavez, Venezuela's president, has already nicknamed the "Axis of Good."
Such an alliance could hinder U.S. efforts to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas stretching from Alaska to the tip of Argentina by 2005.
Fine. Leave them out and let's see how their economies do by comparison. It seems like a worthwhile experiment. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 3, 2003 11:30 PM
Let's leave out Argentina, Ecuador, Peru,
Columbia and Guatemala while we're at it.
Or do we want the zone to fail?
No, put in everyone who wants in. It can only help the US. If they attempt to export their way out of economic trouble, it'll help US consumers, and in the long run, opening their markets completely will pay off for the best managed, and most productive, companies and workers in the world - currently those of the US.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at January 4, 2003 6:56 AMFollowing on with Michael, it's important to remember that lowering tarriffs is not a favor we do other countries but a favor we unilaterally do for ourselves. If every other country in the world had high tarriff walls, we'd still be better off to have no tarriffs at all.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 4, 2003 7:16 AMBreakfast with Chavez, dinner with Fidel Castro and tomorrow there will be no food.
Posted by: Peter at January 4, 2003 10:35 AMYeah, I heard that before. We were going to
export computers to Mexicans, most of whom
don't even have electricity.
Never happened.
Free trade is a unicorn, though freer trade is
usually, though not always, a good idea.
Brazil, by the way, is a huge exporter to the
US, driving numerous US businesses, no matter
how efficient, to destruction. And look who
they just elected.