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Why not support reduction of government intervention in the market by reducing taxation, regulations, etc. instead of supporting more government meddling with tarrifs?

I agree that we need to eliminate government intervention in the US market, reduce taxes that punish US productivity, eliminate regulations that punish US productivity and reward only our domestic enemies (liberal NGOs), etc.

However ... import tariffs are one of the Constitutionally approved methods for the US government to raise revenue. Income taxes are not. The income tax and subsequent additions to the IRS rules and regs intervene in every aspect of American production, distribution, and consumption; in every contract between businesses, and between business and labor, and between individuals.

It is the government's job to negotiate trade agreements with foreign governments. It is not the government's job to inhibit free enterprise within our country.

It is the government's job to negotiate trade agreements with foreign governments

Funny thing about this. Its actually Congress's job, constitutionally speaking, to regulate trade. But with the ratification of GATT and the creation of the WTO, Congress does not participate in trade negotiations. They just pay the bills, so to speak, after the negotiations are complete.

Who negotiates our trade deals? Now its an unelected bureaucrat-- a trade minister-- who unconstitutionally administers trade deals for the US. Trade ministers belong to various councils where they oversee "working groups". The working groups pad the trade agreements with various stipulations, mostly to do with giving poor countries the competitive advantage over rich ones,giving poor countries roads, power plants, dams, schools and hospitals so companies will relocate there, and giving countries access and expertise of our taxpayer funded federal bureaucracies.

In CAFTA for instance, greasing the skids for the trade deal required that "experts" from the USTR and other federal agencies would purchase computers and set up systems for the "poor"countries in the Central American trade agreement. Obviously they are not worth trading with unless Americans invest a lot of tax dollars in their infrastructure, and so, its done, without any congressional oversight or even the consent of the American people. The USTR is really a rogue organization, constitutionally speaking.

In the brave new world of "free trade", this fellow has more authority over our system of trading than the US congress.

Pascal Lamy of France is leading in the race to head the World Trade Organization, while the foreign minister of Mauritius, Jayen Cuttaree, seen here in January 2005, ranked second, according to Amina Mohamed, Kenya's ambassador to the WTO(AFP/File)

This is how trade deals are cut these days.Note that global socialist organizations like the World Bank are now the apex of our federal bureaucrats careers. The American people are nothing more than a stepping stone for these people.

Senior State Department official Robert Zoellick (L) said Washington would be 'very comfortable' with former EU trade chief Pascal Lamy (R) running the WTO but denied a deal had been done to back him in exchange for EU support for the US's controversial candidate at the World Bank.(AFP/File/Tim Sloan)