The Political Objectives of International Trade - Research Paper Example

Pushing aside the philosophical exception to buying regionally, it is very difficult to decipher what products are manufactured partially, mostly, or entirely from any one specific region. In most cases, raw materials are gathered here, assembled there, and shipped via a third entity to an entirely new location for packaging. The item is sold and the funds deposited in a completely different location which invests the money in an endless array of regions providing myriad avenues of revenue for untold amounts of regions.

Buy from, for example, A bumper sticker that suggests “Be American. Buy American.”, might be manufactured in the USA with imported glue from Chile, ink from Jamaica, and paper from China. If, after the purchase, one is dissatisfied with the product, a toll-free Hotline for consumers is routed to India, Russia, or Hong Kong. The difficulty of deciding what has been completely and entirely manufactured, represented, transported, and supported is like finding a needle in a haystack. After reading the Chapter, my viewpoint hasn’t changed much from price and quality.

I found the polling interesting “2/3 supported trade restrictions” (pg. 135). . g paid to US and European farmers allowing them to sell crops on the world market at reduced prices driving down prices of commodities in developing nations (pg. 142). The impression I have is US farmers are paid to ‘not grow’ crops for availability on the world market since the number of crops produced if all US farmers did grow crops, would dramatically overwhelm the markets and drive developing nations out of business for good.

The most effective use of government subsidies is not from the US, but from China who pays subsidies for their companies on imported oil driving the price of gasoline to record numbers. The problem, it appears, is dissecting information from neutral informants. The book includes a secondary “Supporting” position about a ‘Conservative’ misstep; “George W. Bush”. Each side seems to have an agenda and wishes to persuade, albeit subtlety, towards their particular point of view.

All three sides-Left, Right, Central-seem to persuade instead of informing. It is difficult to see the unvarnished truth about International Trade from any writer. Each writer seems to have a polar objective. The political objectives of International Trade are the reason Trade is mired in the grey area for understanding. Political considerations outweigh most logical directives towards “common sense” free trade and/or their restrictions. The book even muddies the Trade waters even further by proclaiming “List” an economic icon with regard to Trade.

The list is referenced as suggesting a Country that cannot produce ‘X’ amount for export should get out of the business of that particular export ‘X’. At the same time, the book vilifies Europe and the USA-as examples-of dominating and controlling the market with respect to crops and commodities.