Economy and rights<\/p>\n
With the Pacific agreement to move to free trade, the United
\nStates has made important progress in a cause that it has
\nvigorously supported for half a century.<\/p>\n
Trade has contributed mightily to rising prosperity in this
\ncountry and throughout the world. But the meeting in Indonesia
\nalso heard, less eagerly, about another longstanding American
\ncause, human rights, that most Asian governments consider
\nunrelated to economics.<\/p>\n
Americans do not consider them unrelated and are uneasy about
\nclose commercial relations with despotisms. That will be,
\nnecessarily and properly, a continuing source of tension in the
\ntrade alliance that is now taking shape as the Asia-Pacific
\nEconomic Cooperation forum. The American government will continue
\nto try to link trade and human rights where it can.<\/p>\n
To the extent that it succeeds, it will confront authoritarian
\nAsian governments with hard choices between economic growth and
\nself-protection.<\/p>\n
And exactly what do these 18 governments mean by free trade?
\nSo far they haven't defined the term. Japan and the United
\nStates, which have been quarreling bitterly over it for decades,
\nclearly don't agree. Whether China would agree with the American
\nconcept of free trade -- let alone the American concept of human
\nrights -- is hardly a question.<\/p>\n
President Clinton has done a fine job of persuading the other
\nPacific countries to work toward wider trade, incoming as well as
\noutbound. He now faces the harder job of persuading voters here.
\nThe bill embodying the last big international trade agreement is
\nanything but ensured of passage by Congress.<\/p>\n
A lot of Americans regard trade and foreign imports as a
\nthreat. Clinton spoke directly to that anxiety in his Jakarta
\npress conference: \"Even if more jobs are coming into the economy,
\npeople may not feel more personal job security. Even if the
\neconomy is growing with low inflation, people may not get a
\nraise.\"<\/p>\n
He went on to say that there are only three ways to remedy
\nthat. One is to increase the proportion of high-wage jobs and
\nthat's what trade does, by rewarding productivity. Another is to
\nincrease the level of skills among American workers to enable
\nthem to take advantage of those better jobs. A third is to steer
\ninvestment and enterprise toward isolated areas, such as the
\ninner cities and rural regions.<\/p>\n
Numbers 2 and 3 require active government intervention. That's
\ngoing to be hard to deliver in a time when the tide is running
\nstrongly in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n
-- The Washington Post<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/economy-and-rights-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }