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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 Here'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tariffs: The Sections 232 and 301 tariffs are causing economic harm and not achieving their goals, and they should be repealed. 4/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's convention, but if Biden wins, his administration and the Democratic Congressional leadership should consider them in the months and years to come. End/
