One thing I never see quantified in such studies is the net gain made to consumers because of lower prices. For those who think the reduced costs aren't passed on through lower prices, just take a look at the income statements for companies involved in NAFTA-type businesses.
I hear the same argument from the steel workers' union that Japan is dumping cheap steel in the US. Well, which would I rather have: 1) cheap steel for several million US cars, construction materials, and other steel products or 2) higher steel prices to keep a couple of thousand steel workers employed in a technologically backward domestic industry? If Japan is truly selling steel in the US at prices below their cost, we should buy all we can and force their losses so high they go out of business. The gains to consumers through lower-priced steel products far outweighs the minute gain a few steel workers make through higher wages.
Sorry, I don't buy this or similarly-flawed studies.
Don't you know it's unpatriotic to buy any but the most expensive domestic steel?
Willie Green explained to me once that cheap foreign steel was bad for America because it might lead to expensive foreign steel sometime in the future. Maybe. His answer was to make our steel expensive now!
Makes sense to me.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has calculated the $ benefit of liberalized trade to U.S. consumers, but I've never used it because I figure it's too easily prone to manipulation.