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 As the last piles of confetti and ticker tape are swept up from election celebrations, political pundits are turning their attention to the makeup of the next administration, and an interesting dynamic may soon develop.
Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that the front-runner for secretary of the treasury is Lawrence Summers, who held the position briefly at the tail-end of the Clinton administration. Though secretary for only about 18 months, he served as assistant secretary for several years under Robert Rubin and was a key in shaping Clintonian economic policy.
What's interesting about the possible selection of Summers is he is a ferocious free-trader, who points to tariff reductions as one of the great triumphs of the Clinton presidency. "The trade agreements of the '90s," Summers has said, "represent the biggest tax cut in the history of the world." Yet Summers as treasury secretary would be working for a president who has promised to take a harder line in trade issues. During his campaign, President-elect Barack Obama promised to take steps to reduce China's $256 billion trade surplus with the U.S. and to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to include stronger labor and environmental provisions. Can these two views be reconciled? Probably. Various factors -- rising wealth in China, appreciation of the yuan, a campaign to buy U.S. imports -- could ease the imbalance in China-U.S. trade. And the president-elect's position on Nafta will probably amount to nothing, as national leaders are rarely as protectionist in office as they were in opposition. (Canada's Jean Chretien promised as Opposition leader to scrap the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, but as prime minister he broadened it to include Mexico.) What's more, even the Clinton administration knew how to flex its muscles on the trade front when it felt other countries weren't playing fair. In 1999, it imposed tariffs on Australian lamb and almost did likewise with Brazilian steel. And who was the treasury secretary at the time? One Lawrence Summers. - Peter Moreira Peter Moreira is The Deal's senior banking reporter. CategoriesComments
From: NO One,
How does Summers tie-in Trade Agreements to the "Greatest Tax Cut in the History of the World"? Is he a liar or trying to convince us of his questionable intelligence -- There is no way he should be Treasury Secy
Posted on:
November 5, 2008 2:08 PM
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How does Summers tie-in Trade Agreements to the "Greatest Tax Cut in the History of the World"? Is he a liar or trying to convince us of his questionable intelligence --
There is no way he should be Treasury Secy