Editorial

Becerra's a bad choice for trade post

He's strongly protectionist, which is the last thing the economy needs now.
December 5, 2008

» Discuss Article    (30 Comments)

Deep down, we had hoped Barack Obama was fibbing when he bashed the North American Free Trade Agreement on the campaign trail. After all, his senior economic policy advisor had, according to a leaked memo, assured Canadian officials that the talk was "more reflective of political maneuvering than policy." Yet amid reports Thursday that Obama had offered the crucial job of U.S. trade representative to a dyed-in-the-wool protectionist, it seems he was disastrously serious all along.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) could become the administration's point person on international trade. He's a terrible choice, and not just because of a history of unsavory behavior -- such as his successful efforts to win a pardon from President Clinton for convicted cocaine kingpin Carlos Vignali, or the screamingly unethical robo-calls his campaign engineered during his run for Los Angeles mayor in 2001. Becerra is a leader of the Democratic Party's protectionist wing, which opposes NAFTA, the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement and most other trade deals.

Free trade irks many liberals because it can shift American jobs to other countries, but it almost invariably does more good than harm, lowering prices for goods and creating new jobs to make up for those it displaces. What's more, history shows that the last thing the country should do during an economic downturn is become more protectionist. A year after the market crash of 1929, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising U.S. tariffs dramatically in an attempt to protect jobs. It fueled a global meltdown that greatly worsened the Depression.

Sometimes political hypocrisy gets a bad rap. If Becerra turns the job down, and we deeply hope he will, Obama should break his promises and appoint a free-trader as trade representative.





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1. Barack Obama made his opinions on trade abundantly clear during the primary and general election. The Tribune enthusiastically endorsed him. Now he's carrying out what he said he'd do and you're unhappy? Please help me understand.
Submitted by: Longfellow
4:37 PM PST, Dec 5, 2008
 
2. Clinton made permanent China's Most Favored Nation trading status, without complete reciprocity, and while allowing their currency exchange to be pegged. No single decision before or since has hurt American industry so much. That's not free trade, it's "economic rape" trade. That's the behavior we need to curtail.
Submitted by: JS
3:48 PM PST, Dec 5, 2008
 
3. I can't believe the Times is printing this--oh yes I can. As usual, the Times tries to sell it's discredited Free-Trade Tripe as 100% steak to paranoid and weak-minded fellow oligarchs. We need to keep what jobs we have left in this country, and to take back those we have sent away. It's time to think of America first and to Hades with the low-ballers in China, India and elsewhere, who lure our jobs away from greedy corporations. Despite what Witch-CEO Carly Fiorina said in 2001, these jobs DO belong to us, and we mean to keep them. Buy American and viva Becerra!
Submitted by: NoJobsExported
3:43 PM PST, Dec 5, 2008
 
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