Free Trade and U.S. Policy

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a number of other senators just came back from Latin America and his statement upon returning hopefully shows some shift toward common sense in the Democratic Party. He argues that free trade agreements can be one element of an overall U.S. policy if done properly, but the obsession with FTAs as the be-all, end-all of policy toward the region is a bad idea (though, after talking about how great the deal was for Peru, he voted no, which is not exactly a way to inspire Latin American leaders).

Another senator, Bob Menéndez, came back saying very reasonably that we need to stop paying too much attention to Hugo Chávez, which relates back to FTAs since they are cited as the way to magically defeat him.

Unfortunately, the “free trade helps out allies against Chávez” is becoming conventional wisdom, primarily as a result of being repeated constantly:

“There is a growing division in Latin America today,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee. “We ought to help countries like Peru that are not going the direction of Venezuela.”

This line of thinking tends to equate a vote against free trade with a vote in favor of Hugo Chávez. We will all be much better off when the two are de-linked.