The NYT again referred to the U.S. policy of selective protectionism, which protects workers in highly paid professions from foreign competition, as "free trade." The reference was in the context of a discussion of European attitudes towards Senator Obama. The article contrasted comments that Senator Obama made during the primaries, which it described as populist, with his "tepid support for free trade." Of course no one in a prominent position in U.S. politics openly supports genuine free trade policies. The doctors and lawyers lobbies would immediately nix any effort to subject to the same sort of international competition faced by textile or auto workers. Free trade is simply not on the national political agenda, although political figures who support subjected non-college educated workers to competition with low-paid workers in the developing world like to refer to their policies as "free trade."
--Dean Baker
