Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed

If this book had as much evidence and proof as it does assertions and assumptions then it would be at least respectable. This book is similar to Jagdish Bhagwati's "In Defense of Globalization" simply because they both use little to no actual evidence and both make broad sweeping claims that fall well outside the realm of what they have attempted to prove (despite both books arguing against one another). For example "Myhts of Free Trade" has 8 chapters, each with a title that sums up the thrust of each chapter. However, Brown then goes into detail about how great his battles have been on capitol hill and fighting against the evils of the Bush administration, and Multinational corporations. But he offers few statistics, little data, but lots of out of context quotations. He will imply that a piece of legislation because "it hurts the steel industry" ,for example, without ever telling us how it hurts the steel industry or proving that it does in fact hurt the steel industry, or even showing us evidence that it could hurt the steel industry beyond implying that the U.S. steel industry faces "unfair" foreign steel manufacturing. In chapter 2 he tries to persuade the reader that free trade is not linked with the war on terrorism, a claim that I thought would be easy enough to prove, but he relies on simple assertions that it is not correlated, but no proof, then goes on to discussion authorization of fast track authority and the showdown between Democrats and Republicans.Clearly Senator Brown has not written this book for mass consumption, but rather rather for his target audience, the Union workers, environmentalists, human rights audience and the rest of the anti-free trade crowd. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, But don't take this book too seriously, if you're looking for a good solid critique of free trade in the modern era, don't bother buying this book.On the other hand if you want to buy a book that reinforces your opinion that republicans and free trade generally are bad (along with the corporations, WTO, IMF, World Bank) then by all means buy this book.Personally, I find this book insufferable not only because of the lack of actual evidence, but also because all Senator Brown talks about is his time in congress and how much of a crusader he is for anti-free trade legislation and view points. After all who doesn't enjoy reading about the individual battles of the house of representatives from a democrat under a republican majority? I mean if he's a Senator he is clearly smart, and if he wrote a book he must know what he is talking about, so why should we question what he says?

In a clear, concise fashion, Senator Brown demolishes the myths of free trade and provides substantial evidence through facts and statistics that our trade policy is not working in the American interest. From NAFTA to PNTR with China, free trade has weakened the American middle class through outsourcing jobs in all sectors overseas, exponentially increased our trade deficits, sustains authoritarian regimes and exploits workers in developing countries in a "race to the bottom". It only benefits multinational corporations and the elites in power. Free trade also creates gluts in supply with a diminished demand, which are perfect conditions for an unstable economy.Brown advocates fair trade policies at the end of the book as a solution. That is, labor and environmental standards that uplift developing countries to our level rather than pushing us downward, going back to our economic roots, the American system by deploying tariffs when needed to protect our industries and our workers, and using trade agreements to create markets for our exports rather than finding new places to outsource jobs to. This is a comprehensive work that any lawmaker, policymaker, and citizen should read, and will help get us back on the right track.

Necessarily repetitive as this is a complicated issue. It is very eye opening at who is causing the damage (corporate America) and what damage is being caused (layoffs and mistreatment of all workers involved).

Sen. Brown has given an unblinking look at the way rich countries abuse poor countries. This is the only book-length treatment of this injustice I've seen. He deals with the causes of the poverty in the poor countries, and how to deal with them.Treating the symptoms by sending handouts to support our agriculture iindustry is scandalous.Karl Hess

Sherrod Brown has written in plain English an easy-to-understand explanationof the myths that the American public has been spoon-fed on free trade by the usual suspects, those who profit by it,their lackeys and errand boys, and the editorial pages of the daily newspapers. Brown lays it all out in a book that is filled with common sense and clear-headed analysis.

This book punctures the so-called Free Trade arguments and illustrates how these agreementshurt the interests of the American people. We need more Senators like Sherrod Brown.