It Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game

Edward Gresser, director of the Project on Trade and Global Markets at the Progressive Policy Institute
Last week's sports highlights - the Water Cube, the Bird's Nest, China's 51 gold medals - were not accidents. They reflect the deep economic trends of a decade in which our competitors have raised their game and we haven't. Former US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky explains it well: "The integration of East Asia, sparked by China's reemergence, has created a far more competitive Asian economy, fusing Japanese, Korean, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore finance and technology with Chinese infrastructure, manpower reserves and low cost. India's rise is only beginning. Logistics industries and telecom networks and IT are more sophisticated each year….The result is a global economy that already is larger, growing faster, more integrated than ever before - and in which structural change is likely to accelerate."

In this environment the public is right to feel anxious - especially given our own performance. Our low science and engineering graduation rates suggest eroding technological leadership. Our poor-quality roads, airports, and telecom connections make us less efficient than we should be. Our public investment in science is too low, our use of energy too profligate, and a decade of supply-side tax-cutting has drained government coffers without producing growth.

We should use dispute rights in the World Trade Organization to hold trade partners to their obligations-just as they do us. But we shouldn't confuse strong competition with "unfair" competition. Instead, we need to look hard at ourselves, admit our weaknesses and start fixing them now.

© 2008