Obama Seeks Fair Trade, Not Free Trade
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Korea should be prepared for more trade disputes with the U.S. after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January, as he will seek ``fair trade" instead of free trade, a local think tank said Friday.
The National Assembly Research Service forecast that the next U.S. administration is likely to press the Korean government to meet higher standards in labor, environmental and intellectual property rights.
In a report titled ``The Obama Presidency and its Implications for Korea,'' the think tank also predicted there would be a retreat to neo-liberal globalization in the U.S. under his presidency.
``Obama is likely to seek government intervention to heal the ailing U.S. economy, and it could lead to tensions with U.S. businesses,'' the report said.
``Given his speeches and campaign pledges, it is fair to conclude that the President-elect will try to fix the negative fallouts of globalization, such as the widening income gap between upper- and lower-income families and losses of American jobs,'' it said.
Obama said in June that ``not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off.''
He acknowledged the role of businesses in helping the economy, saying that ``it was the private sector that helped turn lumber into the wagons that sent this country west, that built the tanks that faced down fascism, and that turned out the automobiles that were the cornerstone of America's manufacturing boom.''
He put an emphasis on the role of government as well, however.
``But at critical moments of transition like this one, success has also depended on national leadership that moved the country forward with confidence and a common purpose,'' he said.
As for the nature of globalization, Prof. Charles K. Armstrong of Columbia University in New York expressed a similar view in an interview with The Korea Times this week.
``Free trade oriented globalization is benefiting only a small number of people and there will be a retreat of this type from globalization,'' he said.
Armstrong also said human-oriented globalization will replace neo-liberal globalization.
The Assembly think tank proposed that the government reconsider its deregulation-oriented policy and seek to control the negative effects of the financial market, hit hard by the global financial crisis.
``The role of government will be increased in the U.S. and Europe, as well with the massive government-led bailout plans. In the U.S., the Obama administration is highly likely to strengthen regulation on financial derivatives as well as mortgages,'' the report said.
It advised the government to find ways to control the negative effects of deregulating financial products, saying the government was going in the opposite direction governments in Europe and North America have taken.