Clashing Over Commerce

Revenue. The struggle for Independence, 1763-1789 ; Trade policy for the new nation, 1789-1816 ; Sectional conflict and crisis, 1816-1833 ; Tariff peace and Civil War, 1833-1865 -- Restriction. The failure of tariff reform, 1865-1890 ; Protectionism entrenched, 1890-1912 ; Policy reversals and drift, 1912-1928 ; The Hawley-Smoot tariff and the Great Depression, 1928-1932 -- Reciprocity. The New Deal and reciprocal trade agreements, 1932-1943 ; Creating a multilateral trading system, 1943-1950 ; New Order and new stresses, 1950-1979 ; Trade shocks and response, 1979-1992 ; From globalization to polarization, 1992-2017 -- Conclusion

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year: “Tells the history of American trade policy . . . [A] grand narrative [that] also debunks trade-policy myths.” —Economist Should the United States be open to commerce with other countries, or should it protect domestic industries from foreign competition? This question has been the source of bitter political conflict throughout American history. Such conflict was inevitable, James Madison argued in the Federalist Papers, because trade policy involves clashing economic interests. The struggle between the winners and losers from trade has always been fierce because dollars and jobs are at stake: depending on what policy is chosen, some industries, farmers, and workers will prosper, while others will suffer. Douglas A. Irwin’s Clashing over Commerce is the most authoritative and comprehensive history of US trade policy to date, offering a clear picture of the various economic and political forces that have shaped it. From the start, trade policy divided the nation—first when Thomas Jefferson declared an embargo on all foreign trade and then when South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union over excessive taxes on imports. The Civil War saw a shift toward protectionism, which then came under constant political attack. Then, controversy over the Smoot-Hawley tariff during the Great Depression led to a policy shift toward freer trade, involving trade agreements that eventually produced the World Trade Organization. Irwin makes sense of this turbulent history by showing how different economic interests tend to be grouped geographically, meaning that every proposed policy change found ready champions and opponents in Congress. Deeply researched and rich with insight and detail, Clashing over Commerce provides valuable and enduring insights into US trade policy past and present. “Combines scholarly analysis with a historian’s eye for trends and colorful details . . . readable and illuminating, for the trade expert and for all Americans wanting a deeper understanding of America’s evolving role in the global economy.” —National Review “Magisterial.” —Foreign Affairs

The United States is entering a period of profound uncertainty in the world political economy--an uncertainty which is threatening the liberal economic order that its own statesmen created at the end of the Second World War. The storm surrounding this threat has been ignited by an issue that has divided Americans since the nation's founding: international trade. Is America better off under a liberal trade regime, or would protectionism be more beneficial? The issue divided Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, the agrarian south from the industrializing north, and progressives from robber barons in the Gilded Age. In our own times, it has pitted anti-globalization activists and manufacturing workers against both multinational firms and the bulk of the economics profession. Ambassador C. Donald Johnson's The Wealth of a Nation is an authoritative history of the politics of trade in America from the Revolution to the Trump era. Johnson begins by charting the rise and fall of the U.S. protectionist system from the time of Alexander Hamilton to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930. Challenges to protectionist dominance were frequent and often serious, but the protectionist regime only faded in the wake of the Great Depression. After World War II, America was the primary architect of the liberal rules-based economic order that has dominated the globe for over half a century. Recent years, however, have seen a swelling anti-free trade movement that casts the postwar liberal regime as anti-worker, pro-capital, and--in Donald Trump's view--even anti-American. In this riveting history, Johnson emphasizes the benefits of the postwar free trade regime, but focuses in particular on how it has attempted to advance workers' rights. This analysis of the evolution of American trade policy stresses the critical importance of the multilateral trading system's survival and defines the central political struggle between business and labor in measuring the wealth of a nation.

As a linchpin of global capitalism, the World Trade Organization is both revered and reviled. In this book, financial journalist Paul Blustein tells the surprisingly entertaining and compelling story of how the WTO is sliding into dysfunctionality -- which poses a new and grave menace to globalization itself. In more than seven years of global talks the WTO has struggled and failed to resolve contentious differences between rich and developing nations. Now, with a worldwide recession underway, the WTO's failure is contributing to a rise in protectionism -- a sign that the world may not be so flat after all. Misadventures of the Most Favored Nations recounts, in vivid detail, how the highstakes negotiations went awry. At risk, Blustein argues, is the fate of the system that for six decades has opened the global economy and kept it from splintering.

An updated look at global trade and why it remains as controversial as ever Free trade is always under attack, more than ever in recent years. The imposition of numerous U.S. tariffs in 2018, and the retaliation those tariffs have drawn, has thrust trade issues to the top of the policy agenda. Critics contend that free trade brings economic pain, including plant closings and worker layoffs, and that trade agreements serve corporate interests, undercut domestic environmental regulations, and erode national sovereignty. Why are global trade and agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputation? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin sweeps aside the misconceptions that run rampant in the debate over trade and gives readers a clear understanding of the issues involved. In its fifth edition, the book has been updated to address the sweeping new policy developments under the Trump administration and the latest research on the impact of trade.

The only up-to-date work on the global arms trade, this book puts the global trade in weapons into the context of history. It includes recent controversial deals as well as case studies on Zimbabwe, Iraq and Darfur. Veteran human rights campaigner Nicolas Gilby exposes the cynicism, bribery and secret deals which characterise this dirty - albeit legal - business.

Unlike any other text on international trade, this groundbreaking book focuses on the dynamic long-run relationship between trade and economic growth rather than the static short-run relationship between trade and economic efficiency. The authors begin with well-known theory on international trade, and then take the student into more recent and less well-known work, all with a careful balance between empirical and theoretical perspectives. A valuable teaching tool for courses in international economics, economic growth, and economic development at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the book uses some very modest algebra, calculus, and statistics. However, most analytical discussions are built around diagrams in order to make the text accessible to students with a variety of social science backgrounds. An Instructor's Manual is available to professors who adopt the text.

A delightful as well as educational read. It should be a set text for anyone interested in trade policy - The Economist.

"In all countries, there are laws and regulations affecting private economic activity. They are necessary to enable private economic activity to thrive, as well as to provide for honesty in information), consumer protection, and much more. Laws and regulations, such as safety standards, quality grades, and health and food (phytosanitary) standards generally apply to much economic activity within a country. In very primitive societies when farming or hunting was almost all economic activity, such measures were much less necessary. But as exchanges and trading increased, the need to find ways to support transactions became essential in order to enable parties to agree on even such things as simple weights and measures. Until there was a commercial code (legal framework), most businesses were owned primarily by family members who could trust each other. The commercial codes covered such phenomena as penalties against breach of contract, standards and assurances as to the quality and ingredients of goods being contracted, and penalties for their infringement, and so on. Note that even a rudimentary contract would likely have needed an understanding as to weights and measures, definition of materials, and much more"--