Americans are losing jobs elsewhere, the report hinted, as
textile plants relocate to countries with lower labor costs, such
as Costa Rica or Honduras. Perhaps, it implied, free trade costs
too much and helps too few.
But what about the other side of the coin -- the benefits of
free trade? Surely balance requires us to consider as well the jobs
it creates, the higher wages it brings, the savings that flow to
Americans nationwide.
Why, for example, aren't we hearing about Toledo, Ohio? Chrysler
operates a Jeep factory there that employs nearly 4,000 workers.
One out of every four vehicles these American workers make are sold
overseas. Other companies depend even more on exports: Awareness
Technology, Inc. of Florida, which makes laboratory equipment, saw
its sales to foreign markets grow 38 percent (to $5.2 million)
between 1995 and 1999. Three-quarters of its jobs are directly
supported by overseas sales, according to the U.S. Trade
Representative's Office.
Foreign markets have also helped companies such as Milgard
Manufacturing, Inc. in Washington state grow by leaps and bounds. A
glass manufacturer, Milgard started in 1958 with five employees.
Today, it's the largest window-maker in the western United States,
with nearly 2,500 employees in 14 states who sell Milgard products
in countries such as Canada and Mexico -- and even as far away as
Taiwan.
Free trade also allows foreign companies to operate on U.S. soil
-- and create jobs for Americans in the process. More than 2,400
foreign firms operated about 5,700 businesses here in 2000,
according to the Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the United
States. They paid, on average, 12 percent more than domestic firms,
and they helped Americans enjoy lower prices for a variety of goods
and services.
In addition, these foreign firms indirectly create many other
jobs for companies that supply their factories or that serve their
personal needs -- such as restaurants, retail stores and
supermarkets. A 1998 University of Michigan study found that every
job created by a foreign auto maker leads to more than five
spin-off jobs.
And most foreign companies that open plants in the United States
buy the parts here to save money -- which leads to lower-priced
products and even more jobs. The four plants Honda operates in
eastern Ohio, for example, use tons of steel, but they don't buy
the raw material. Their suppliers buy it, turn it into doors,
fenders and other car parts, and Honda buys these finished
components.
This process also shows why protecting the steel industry makes no sense. The old argument for doing so -- that America needs a large steel-producing sector to fill emergency wartime needs -- doesn't wash. We already manufacture three times the steel the military could need for even the biggest buildup.
And for every steel worker, there are 57 in industries that buy
and use steel. High tariffs and other protectionist measures only
make their work less profitable, their products less competitive,
and their jobs less secure.
Economic policies should benefit as many people as possible, and
policies that promote free trade do that. They don't lead to a net
loss of jobs, as opponents claim. Imports jumped from $62 billion
in 1950 to $1.3 trillion in 1999 -- which coincides with the most
rapid and thorough streamlining of manufacturing processes in world
history. Yet despite the 2000 percent increase in imports and the
gargantuan rise in labor-saving devices, the number of
manufacturing jobs remained relatively constant over this
period.
But stories such as the one on "World News Tonight" do more than
leave out the good news about free trade. This fear-mongering about
trade has consequences. No one talks about the $2,040 in savings
that foreign trade brings to American families each year. No one
highlights the jobs it supports. No one notices that a third of our
farm sector is devoted to foreign trade.
And so there is far too little discussion of how much better off
we'd be financially if President Bush had Trade Promotion Authority
(formerly known as "fast track"). Today, the United States is party
to three of 131 trade agreements around the world. The European
Union is party to 57. Why?
"World News Tonight" can report whatever it wants. But if it
wants to be balanced, it needs to highlight the people who save the
money, work the jobs and harvest the crops that free trade makes
possible. They're not hard to find.
Aaron Schavey is a policy analyst in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy research institute.
Distributed nationally on the Knight-Ridder Tribune wire