What Should the Next President Do about the Record U.S. Trade Deficit?
POLICY FORUMWednesday, November 15, 2000
12:00 p.m.
Featuring Murray Weidenbaum, Chairman, Trade Deficit Review Commission; Dan Griswold, Associate Director, Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Robert Z. Lawrence, Member, President's Council of Economic Advisers.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Americans will import about $350 billion more in goods and services this year than they will export, setting another record for the U.S. trade deficit. Skeptics of free trade charge that the deficit destroys jobs, drags down growth, and piles up foreign debt; proponents counter that the deficit reflects a strong domestic demand, growth, and investment. A special Trade Deficit Review Commission appointed by Congress will weigh in November 14 with a report on the causes and the consequences of the deficit. A panel that includes the chairman of the commission and one of the president's economic advisers will discuss whether the deficit poses a threat to U.S. prosperity and what, if anything, the new president and Congress should do about it.