Building Support for More Open Trade: Report of an Independent Task Force (Council on Foreign Relations Task Force Report)

With the current slowdown in the world economy, the expansion of free trade is critically important to economic growth in the United States and abroad. The United States must move forward on expanding trade now, so concludes this report of an Independent Task Force, led by Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and Reagan White House Chief of Staff Kenneth M. Duberstein. Created to help break America's political deadlock on trade, and accepting that trade expansion contributes "to economic growth by promoting investment, encouraging competition and technological innovation, and reducing inflation," the task force reaches two broad conclusions: first, trade expansion, when combined with complementary domestic policies, can help address the problems cited by labor, environmentalists, and others concerned with social issues; and second, the United States must move ahead on Trade Promotion Authority (formerly "fast track"). The Task Force specifically supports a formula for this process that is built into the new U.S.-Jordan trade agreement, namely that states should not relax or selectively enforce labor or environmental laws to gain trade advantage.Robert Edward Rubin is the author of 'Building Support for More Open Trade: Report of an Independent Task Force (Council on Foreign Relations Task Force Report)' with ISBN 9780876092859 and ISBN 0876092857.