History of U.S. trade policy

[idlisambar]

"The American revolutionaries almost lost the War of Independence because they did not have the manufacturing capacity to produce the arms they required. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Great Britain had prohibited its American colonists from manufacturing virtually any type of good for either their own use or export.

When the war began in 1776, a desperate Continental Congress sent Benjamin Franklin, the most famous American of his time, to Paris, where he was authorized to buy muskets, gunpowder, sails, cannon and shot. He also ordered blankets, pants, shoes and shirts for the Army – items the colonists could not manufacture in great quantities.

Once Franklin had the goods, he had to get them across the Atlantic, past the British Navy’s blockade, and into the Caribbean Islands. Once there, smugglers put the goods onto lighter ships and slipped them up the coastal rivers to George Washington’s agents. To get a musket and gunpowder from France to the U.S. took almost six months.

The deprivations caused by a lack of war supplies seared into the minds of the American revolutionaries the need for a strong domestic manufacturing base. Never again, swore George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox and a generation of other leaders, would the U.S. be dependent on others for the necessities required for its national defense.
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http://www.economyincrisis.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=61

[ananda]

1. so, if that's the case, then..

Why is the USA so determined to outsource manufacturing?

FROM THE ARTICLE: The deprivations caused by a lack of war supplies seared into the minds of the American revolutionaries the need for a strong domestic manufacturing base. Never again, swore George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox and a generation of other leaders, would the U.S. be dependent on others for the necessities required for its national defense.END

Is there any evidence that the USA has a strong domestic manufacturing base?

Sue

[ashmanonar]

2. we haven't for 50 years.

the only things we make here anymore are SOME cars, and some very minor light manufactured goods. i worked in a BROOM factory for a summer, with not enough people to run the machines. that's what we make in the us.

[ashmanonar]

3. oh, and i believe the answer to your question is

bc the "leadership" in our government are traitors and should be charged with sedition.

[idlisambar]

4. Take a look at the rest of the article n/t

[hedda_foil]

5. Read this part!

The U.S. participation in the WTO is historic. For the first time in U.S. history, the Congress agreed to subordinate its powers to set U.S. trade policy to an international body. It agreed that were there a conflict between U.S. trade laws and WTO rules, the U.S. would change its laws to follow WTO rules or pay damages set by the WTO.

Under the WTO rules, it is illegal for the United States to give any priority whatsoever to American-owned companies that wish to operate in the U.S. The Buy-America laws have effectively been repealed by an international treaty.

The new WTO global regime of trade encourages corporations to shift their production, and increasingly their research and development, from the industrialized world with its high wages, benefits, and worker protections to developing nations filled with penny-wage labor and lax government regulations. Then, the WTO rules also allow those companies to bring their products back into the rich world markets duty free.

The open market policies advanced by the WTO and supported by a bipartisan majority in both Houses of the U.S. Congress have led to a rapid dismantling of the American economy. Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. has accumulated a trade deficit of more than $5 trillion, the largest unilateral transfer of wealth in history. Put into context, as recently as 1970, the United States manufactured here almost 95 percent of all that it consumed. Today, it produces less than half that portion.