Title: Are Trade Agreements Good for Americans? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
Headings: Are Trade Agreements Good for Americans?
Are Trade Agreements Good for Americans?
Debaters
Trade Agreements Benefit Consumers and Producers
They Increase Trade Deficits, Which Have Led to Job Loss
U.S. Trade Deficits Are Not the Cause of Unemployment
Offshore Production Has Really Hurt U.S. Manufacturing
Introduction

Content: In the 1960s, exports and imports represented less than 10 percent of U.S. gross domestic product; today the share is closer to 30 percent. As a result, American exporters sell more U.S. goods abroad than ever before — and imports give American consumers more choices at lower prices. Americans have higher living standards because trade enables them to afford more goods. Trade benefits consumers in other ways — many of the products that are produced in the United States are cheaper and better because they have imported components and raw materials, improving their quality and lowering their cost. Trade thus boosts the competitiveness of products made at home, which, in turn, allows American producers to sell more abroad and employ more workers in the U.S.
For the United States, trade agreements open markets abroad without significant changes in current U.S. trade restrictions. That is because with few exceptions, U.S. trade barriers are already low and U.S. regulatory requirements protecting consumers, workers and the environment are high. Almost all our trading partners have higher barriers; trade negotiations are largely about how much and how fast they will change their practices, upgrade their regulatory standards toward U.S. norms and open their markets to new competition from the United States and other countries. From the U.S. perspective, the benefits are straightforward.