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The Democratic convention starts next week. Just in time for it, former Democratic Congressman Jim Bacchus has a @CatoTrade paper arguing that Democrats should support trade more than they have in recent years: https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/democrats-trade-2021-pro-trade-policy-democratic-party">https://www.cato.org/publicati... Here& #39;s a thread about his paper. 1/
Trump has mishandled trade policy in a number of ways, and acted in a unilateral and protectionist manner. Partly as a result, trade liberalization is now more popular than ever. The Democrats should take advantage of that and make some big changes, as follows. 2/
Reclaim Congress’s constitutional authority over trade policy: Rein in the broad language of Sections 232 and 301, and spell out TPA instructions more clearly. 3/
Repeal Trump’s unilateral tariffs: The Sections 232 and 301 tariffs are causing economic harm and not achieving their goals, and they should be repealed. 4/
Recommit to multilateralism: Support, strengthen, and ensure the continued success of the WTO. 5/
Recommit to the rule of law in trade: Work with other WTO Members to restore the Appellate Body and ensure a functioning WTO dispute settlement system. 6/
Support the modernization of the WTO: There are still plenty of tariffs and subsidies to deal with, but rules on digital trade are needed too. 7/
Find a coherent approach to dealing with China: Democrats must come up with a strategy that encompasses all aspects of the trade relationship with China, and they must work with allies to implement it. 8/
Support bilateral and regional trade liberalizing efforts: If these agreements are well constructed, they can be proving grounds for new approaches to trade that can eventually be implemented globally. 9/
Promote domestic actions that improve American competitiveness: Trade is one part of an overall strategy for legislation and governance that supports and secures the best from liberal, market-based capitalism. 10/
These ideas will probably not make it into the discussion at next week& #39;s convention, but if Biden wins, his administration and the Democratic Congressional leadership should consider them in the months and years to come. End/
