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It is rare when a government official actually blames himself for his mistakes. That straight talk occurred in the June 4 issue of Foreign Policy in Focus when Robert Cassidy, President Clinton's Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and China, took himself to task for the trade agreement he negotiated with China. He began: "As the principal negotiator for the landmark market access agreement that led to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I have reflected on whether the agreements we negotiated really lived up to our expectations. A sober reflection has led me to conclude that those...

How to recapture the Republican advantage on trade By Jesse Richman, Howard Richman, and Raymond Richman web posted May 26, 2008 When a new issue emerges that is popular, sometimes one party captures the issue and wins elections thereby. At other times no major party will adopt the issue and third parties emerge to champion it. Finally, some issues are dealt with by both parties. The Democratic Party, but not the Republicans, began talking about trade in 2006 when Senator Chuck Schumer took leadership, both on the trade issue and in enlisting Democratic candidates who would make trade an issue....