It is one of the peculiarities of the use of language that, having re-named trade liberalization "globalization," a process that has been in fact gathering speed for two centuries, it should now be seen in many quarters as a threat. It is not. Nor should it become one, despite the often legitimate concerns of the "new protectionists."
There is in fact no reason to quarrel with those that tell us to worry about consumer, labour and environmental concerns. Rather than being regarded as some impediment they should, as Bruce Stokes argued in a recent issue of Foreign Policy, be seen "as a sign of the success of globalization. If rich country environmentalists now worry whether shrimp traps in less developed countries inadvertently kill sea turtles, it is not a sign of rising protectionism. It simply reflects the emergence of a global market for shrimps caught by less developed countries."
If free traders can't realize that history is on their side and cannot see that it is their very success that throws up the complexities, they don't really deserve to be winners. Diminishing the concerns of turtle lovers or child labour protectors is to feed public frustration without dealing with very real, but solvable issues. As the Overseas Development Council, a Washington think-tank, has observed: "Poor labour standards distort labour markets, weakening rather than promoting export competitiveness."
Seattle was the scene of an exaggerated polarization. It is time for the free traders, the global-izers, the proven winners, to step down from their pedestal and stop stereotyping every union or envi-ronmentalist group as out to undermine open markets and economic growth. Otherwise there is a grave danger that their own dire prophecies will become self-fulfilling. With a more open mind they could use their intellectual and financial capital to answer and redress the complaints of the activists. Then a US president would probably find his "fast track" negotiating authority on new trade deals restored and a new round of tariff cuts could give the West's present boom even longer life and countries as diverse as Russia, India, Nigeria and Brazil the breaks they deserve. That is the way to lift all boats.
Jonathan Power is a freelance columnist based in London.
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