November 12, 2010
Everyone knows that the Washington Post abandons any pretext of objectivity when it comes to trade. It once even famously claimed that Mexico’s GDP had quadrupled from 1988 to 2007 in order to tout the benefits of NAFTA. (The actual increase was 82 percent.) So, it is hardly surprising that it resorted to name-calling in denouncing the opponents of the trade pact with South Korea.
It referred to these opponents as “protectionist voices” within the Democratic Party. Of course everyone involved in trade debates is protectionist, the only issue is who is being protected. This trade agreement would actually increase protections for items like copyrights and patents, increasing the cost to consumers of items like prescription drugs and recorded music and videos. This will slow growth and reduce jobs. The deal also does little or nothing to reduce the barriers that protect highly paid professionals like doctors and lawyers from international competition.
This is why it inappropriate to refer to the Korean pact as a “free-trade” deal. Does the Post require that reporters refer to every trade deal that it likes as a “free-trade” pact, instead of increasing accuracy and saving space by referring to it simply as a “trade” deal?
The Post also repeats the silly old trick of telling readers that the pact will help the economy creating 70,000 jobs in firms exporting goods to South Korea. Of course, the real story on job creation depends on both exports and imports. (Come on, does the Post really think it can fool readers with this one?) The country’s trade deficit has increased with most of the countries with whom it has signed trade pacts in the last two decades, implying that by this crude measure the deals have been job losers.
So, the main information that readers get from this front page article is that the Washington Post really likes the proposed trade pact with South Korea. But regular Post readers already knew this.
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