A spoonful of sugar may be the poison that kills the economic opportunity of free trade between the United States and six nations in Central America and undermines the fundamental concept of international trade, says Pete du Pont, a former governor of Delaware and chairman of the National Centre for Policy Analysis.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) would free up trade between the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. And for the American economy, it would be a good step forward, says du Pont:
Cafta would expand foreign markets for U.S. products and services and substantially increase job opportunities in America, says du Pont:
Annual U.S. sugar production is about 7.8 million metric tons, so the effect of Cafta is to raise sugar imports into America by about one day’s sugar production, or as Portman puts it, “approximately one teaspoon of sugar per week per adult American.”
That threat a teaspoon of sugar a week has caused the U.S. sugar lobby to focus its efforts on killing Cafta. And it may succeed, says du Pont.
Source: Pete du Pont, Sugar Socialism: The American consumer takes his lumps — and pays too much for them, OpinionJournal.com, May 25, 2005.
For text: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=110006733
For more on Tariffs and Other Trade Barriers: http://www.ncpa.org/iss/tra/
FMF Policy Bulletin/ 31 May 2005
