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Argument: Free trade undermines manufacturing muscle of developed nations

Issue Report: Free trade

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  • Patrick J. Buchanan. “Free Trade is Not Free, Mr. President”. The American Cause. May, 2001 – “A second cost of free trade is deindustrialization. When Spain, Holland and Great Britain lost primacy in manufacturing, to focus on trade and finance, their great days were over. Manufacturing is the muscle of a nation, the key to its productivity and wage growth. What benefit do we get from a $105 billion trade deficit in autos and trucks, a $48 billion trade deficit in clothing, and a $43 billion trade deficit in office machines and ADP equipment, all of which we used to make here?
Why take these high-paying jobs, the yellow brick road to the middle class for working Americans, and send them abroad?”