GDP Center Releases Research on U.S. Trade Policy
The Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, an affiliated regional center at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, released a new research report examining U.S. trade policy and performance in the Trump and COVID-19 era. The report was published in collaboration with the Groundwork Collaborative and the Institute for Policy Studies. It was produced by Sandra Polaski, Senior Research Scholar at the GDP Center, Sarah Anderson, Director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, John Cavanagh, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, Kevin Gallagher, Pardee School Professor of Global Development Policy and Director of the GDP Center, Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Rebecca Ray, Senior Researcher at the GDP Center.
The report, titled “How Trade Policy Failed US Workers – And How to Fix it,” examines U.S. trade policy prior to the pandemic and reveals an approach heavily focused toward the interest of the financial sector and large national corporations. Secondly, the authors review current U.S. trade agreements – including the new US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement and the Trump administration’s current trade war with China – examining their impact on U.S. workers and the hard-hit states Ohio and Michigan.
The authors suggest that, in this time of economic and health crises, the U.S needs a new trade policy more than ever to support an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to start building an equitable economy that is resilient to future crises.
An excerpt:
Over the last several decades, U.S. trade policies have failed most Americans. Under the guise of “free trade” special interests have captured trade policy to extract wealth at home and abroad and leave working people to bear the costs. Coupled with the myriad of domestic policy failures that have left workers, families and communities worse off, U.S. trade policy made Americans more vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis, in terms of both their jobs and their health.
A summary of key findings and priorities for reform can be read here. Read the full report here.
The GDP Center is a university-wide research center affiliated with the Pardee School of Global Studies. The GDP Center’s mission is to advance policy-oriented research for financial stability, human well-being, and environmental sustainability. Learn more here.