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Myths of Free Trade: Why America Trade Policy Has Failed
The subject of widespread attention when first released, including the pages of the New York Times Book Review , Myths of Free Trade provides a front-row seat to the Washington spectacle of corporate lobbying and political intimidation that keeps the free-trade mantra alive as American policy, despite all the evidence of its failure. U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown―a leading progressive voice in Congress and a twelve-year veteran of Washington's trade wars―takes apart free-trade dogma, myth by myth. His book is an accessible, personal, globe-trotting chronicle, taking the reader from the coffee fields of Nicaragua to the sweatshops of China; from the toxic wastelands on the Mexican border to the halls of Congress. Described as an "essential primer" by The Progressive and a "voice of truth" by Public Citizen News , this edition includes a fascinating update that describes the congressional battle over the Central American Free Trade Agreement―a battle led by Tom DeLay on one side and Sherrod Brown on the other.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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February 5, 2008This guy is the junior senator from Ohio. I wish he was my dad.
May 31, 2015
Highly recommended.
September 23, 2020
Not a bad read, possibly a little dated because of when it was written and the subject matter contained inside. I would be interested to see if Senator Brown produces a second edition that updates the work found inside.
Also, loved to see people that I know mentioned in the book for their awesome (pro-labor) work they have done for decades.
Also, loved to see people that I know mentioned in the book for their awesome (pro-labor) work they have done for decades.
April 24, 2025
So with Trump in office and tariffs abounding, I picked up this book to get an idea of the history of US trade policy, tariffs, and how trade is done on the global scale. It was published way back in 2004, so it's not recent in any sense but the myths of free trade, which Brown debunks, are relevant today. I have heard of Brown from general newspaper reading.
So, where to start? It's obvious to me that free trade or fair trade has been a boon to only one entity in the world. And that's the multinational corporations, probably solely US based, that have pushed trade all along. The companies that make things (and this could be anything) realized that they could pay foreign workers $3 to $5 dollars a day, instead of paying a good ol' American worker, let's say, $15 an hour. Yes, a race to the bottom. Who loses? The good ol' American worker, the foreign worker who is getting a little more money than he did but who basically lives in poverty. And I wonder if after a few years of sending jobs overseas--are the goods now coming into the US any cheaper? I doubt it. Off shoring jobs only benefitted the companies and the bosses.
Some highlights...
- Harry Wu, who was a Chinese dissident and who had been a prisoner for 19 years in a Chinese 'laogai', which is Mandarin for forced labor camp, said that China's system (a dictatorship) will never be changed by capitalism. To quote Harry, "Capitalism must never be equated with democracy. This is a very American belief--making money produces freedom. Don't believe it about China. My homeland is mired in thousands of years of rule by one bully at a time, whether you call him emperor or chairman. Don't be fooled by electronics or air conditioning."
- US companies have sent every possible US manufacturing job to China, gutting America's ability to make things. Here I quote Wei Jingsheng, "American corporate executives serves as the vanguard of the Chinese government... many of the American businessmen are forced to serve the political purposes of the Chinese Communists..." by pushing most favored trade access for China. These executives get goods produced cheaper in China, which are then imported into the US. Get it?
In 2000, Jingsheng had been expelled from China after serving over 20 years in prison. This was from a disussion with US congressmen.
- In 2004, when this book was published, US exports to China were LESS than what the US exported to Belgium. China can take care of itself, it doesn't want nor need US products.
- Now onto Mexico. Are the Mexican workers getting a better life with the jobs that have been moved to Mexico? I don't think so. After NAFTA passed in 1993, maquiladoras (factories owned by primarily US companies to create things for export to the US, i.e., outsourcing of American jobs) sprang up on the US border. The workers live in conditions of filth, poverty and hopelessness. These maquiladoras have been compared to coal towns in eastern Kentucky at the turn of the century, both suffer from low wages, dangerous working conditions, child labor.
- Now onto Adam Smith. Yep, that one of the invisible hand. Well, if one read his book carefully (I have not) Smith was not a fan of the marketplace's invisible hand. He only said it once! He also said that high wages will create a middle class (like Henry Ford), the tariffs are fine to protect domestic workers, and "the proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce, which comes from this order (companies!) ought always to be listened to with great precaution and ought never to be adopted!"
The basic problem is that the US has lost the ability to manufacture things because US companies saw they could make more money with factories overseas. Let's hope that something (tariffs?) brings those factories back.
So, where to start? It's obvious to me that free trade or fair trade has been a boon to only one entity in the world. And that's the multinational corporations, probably solely US based, that have pushed trade all along. The companies that make things (and this could be anything) realized that they could pay foreign workers $3 to $5 dollars a day, instead of paying a good ol' American worker, let's say, $15 an hour. Yes, a race to the bottom. Who loses? The good ol' American worker, the foreign worker who is getting a little more money than he did but who basically lives in poverty. And I wonder if after a few years of sending jobs overseas--are the goods now coming into the US any cheaper? I doubt it. Off shoring jobs only benefitted the companies and the bosses.
Some highlights...
- Harry Wu, who was a Chinese dissident and who had been a prisoner for 19 years in a Chinese 'laogai', which is Mandarin for forced labor camp, said that China's system (a dictatorship) will never be changed by capitalism. To quote Harry, "Capitalism must never be equated with democracy. This is a very American belief--making money produces freedom. Don't believe it about China. My homeland is mired in thousands of years of rule by one bully at a time, whether you call him emperor or chairman. Don't be fooled by electronics or air conditioning."
- US companies have sent every possible US manufacturing job to China, gutting America's ability to make things. Here I quote Wei Jingsheng, "American corporate executives serves as the vanguard of the Chinese government... many of the American businessmen are forced to serve the political purposes of the Chinese Communists..." by pushing most favored trade access for China. These executives get goods produced cheaper in China, which are then imported into the US. Get it?
In 2000, Jingsheng had been expelled from China after serving over 20 years in prison. This was from a disussion with US congressmen.
- In 2004, when this book was published, US exports to China were LESS than what the US exported to Belgium. China can take care of itself, it doesn't want nor need US products.
- Now onto Mexico. Are the Mexican workers getting a better life with the jobs that have been moved to Mexico? I don't think so. After NAFTA passed in 1993, maquiladoras (factories owned by primarily US companies to create things for export to the US, i.e., outsourcing of American jobs) sprang up on the US border. The workers live in conditions of filth, poverty and hopelessness. These maquiladoras have been compared to coal towns in eastern Kentucky at the turn of the century, both suffer from low wages, dangerous working conditions, child labor.
- Now onto Adam Smith. Yep, that one of the invisible hand. Well, if one read his book carefully (I have not) Smith was not a fan of the marketplace's invisible hand. He only said it once! He also said that high wages will create a middle class (like Henry Ford), the tariffs are fine to protect domestic workers, and "the proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce, which comes from this order (companies!) ought always to be listened to with great precaution and ought never to be adopted!"
The basic problem is that the US has lost the ability to manufacture things because US companies saw they could make more money with factories overseas. Let's hope that something (tariffs?) brings those factories back.
October 7, 2025
It's a shame Senator Brown lost re-election last fall. As part of a dwindling breed of Democrats opposed to free-trade, he does not sell out his beliefs for political preservation.
Capitalism has pit short-term quarterly profits over long term sustainable gain. Because so, the theories that some pro-free market-unregulated-capitalists advance, including decisions that maximize company revenue and productivity, fall short. If corporations can award large compensatory packages to executives, then surely it can pay its workers their fair share that they have not yet seen. This is noted as worker productivity has risen so much while wages have only caught up by a fractional share. Free trade has only delinked worker productivity and wages.
On top of this, organizations like the WTO have undermined democratic governments. And in general, trade agreements like NAFTA have upended existing environmental, worker safety, and health laws. Institutions like the IMF and the World Bank insist on developing countries to cut spending and engage in austerity measures to attract investment, which often means cutting back on social programs that benefit the working class as well as the very impoverished. Companies, with capital that can fly in and out can privatize their gains while socializing their consequences as Brown puts it in the best way possible.
There's plenty of good myths of free trade that Senator Brown successfully busts including how free trade leads to freedom, which if you looked at unregulated capitalism in Germany in the late 30s to early 40s (which even Adam Smith has expressed opposition to if it comes at the expense of the working class), it lead to fascism, not democracy. Again, free trade in its current form is NOT fair. It’s undermined democratic institutions, worker’s rights and environmental laws.
It's a good history that Brown gives on trade agreements in the country, especially modern ones. Although I will say to the fault of nobody, the book is dated and only goes up until Sherrod's first election to the U.S. Senate in 2006 during the Bush administration. Fast forward to 2025, the Republican Party's anti-free trade wing has taken over the party. I will say that the protectionist policy element is the only redeeming quality of this current administration, and even then it's mostly in name only. Versus the Bush administration of Brown's time, this administration is more blatant in its coddling of special interests at the expense of the working class. The stakes cannot be anymore higher and henceforth more progressives need to understand the myths around the free trade status quo and rally against it (because we're all better off as a result), winning back the working class that has been hemorrhaging to a con artist in the process.
I’ve read his Inside the Minority book, recalling his first term coming at a time when the GOP rode a wave of popular anti-government sentiment into the House majority for the first time in decades. I have also read Desk 88 (which is his best writing yet) that details eight progressive senators that changed America for the better. I will say I am a big fan of his writing. Brown does this style where he ends the book on a positive win for the cause he cares about. I'm convinced that besides Joe Biden, one other person in 2020 could have beaten Donald Trump and it's Sherrod Brown, most likely by a larger margin too. If it weren't for his vulnerable seat in Ohio, he would've made a great president or even just a Labor Secretary.
Disturbing additional fact: The Made in USA Label can be misleading as child labor and underpaid workers make the products in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, which still qualifies for the label.
Capitalism has pit short-term quarterly profits over long term sustainable gain. Because so, the theories that some pro-free market-unregulated-capitalists advance, including decisions that maximize company revenue and productivity, fall short. If corporations can award large compensatory packages to executives, then surely it can pay its workers their fair share that they have not yet seen. This is noted as worker productivity has risen so much while wages have only caught up by a fractional share. Free trade has only delinked worker productivity and wages.
On top of this, organizations like the WTO have undermined democratic governments. And in general, trade agreements like NAFTA have upended existing environmental, worker safety, and health laws. Institutions like the IMF and the World Bank insist on developing countries to cut spending and engage in austerity measures to attract investment, which often means cutting back on social programs that benefit the working class as well as the very impoverished. Companies, with capital that can fly in and out can privatize their gains while socializing their consequences as Brown puts it in the best way possible.
There's plenty of good myths of free trade that Senator Brown successfully busts including how free trade leads to freedom, which if you looked at unregulated capitalism in Germany in the late 30s to early 40s (which even Adam Smith has expressed opposition to if it comes at the expense of the working class), it lead to fascism, not democracy. Again, free trade in its current form is NOT fair. It’s undermined democratic institutions, worker’s rights and environmental laws.
It's a good history that Brown gives on trade agreements in the country, especially modern ones. Although I will say to the fault of nobody, the book is dated and only goes up until Sherrod's first election to the U.S. Senate in 2006 during the Bush administration. Fast forward to 2025, the Republican Party's anti-free trade wing has taken over the party. I will say that the protectionist policy element is the only redeeming quality of this current administration, and even then it's mostly in name only. Versus the Bush administration of Brown's time, this administration is more blatant in its coddling of special interests at the expense of the working class. The stakes cannot be anymore higher and henceforth more progressives need to understand the myths around the free trade status quo and rally against it (because we're all better off as a result), winning back the working class that has been hemorrhaging to a con artist in the process.
I’ve read his Inside the Minority book, recalling his first term coming at a time when the GOP rode a wave of popular anti-government sentiment into the House majority for the first time in decades. I have also read Desk 88 (which is his best writing yet) that details eight progressive senators that changed America for the better. I will say I am a big fan of his writing. Brown does this style where he ends the book on a positive win for the cause he cares about. I'm convinced that besides Joe Biden, one other person in 2020 could have beaten Donald Trump and it's Sherrod Brown, most likely by a larger margin too. If it weren't for his vulnerable seat in Ohio, he would've made a great president or even just a Labor Secretary.
Disturbing additional fact: The Made in USA Label can be misleading as child labor and underpaid workers make the products in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, which still qualifies for the label.
April 22, 2018
Make a clear, compelling case on free trade.
Sherrod Brown is Democratic senator from Ohio. He is noticeably biased but that does not make his case any less credible or relevant - especially given results of our trade policies.
Sherrod Brown is Democratic senator from Ohio. He is noticeably biased but that does not make his case any less credible or relevant - especially given results of our trade policies.
December 25, 2018
This book has completely changed my understanding and view on foreign trade policy. It probably wasn’t the best primer for background on US trade, but it provides enough background that it all makes decent sense.
May 20, 2018
Hope Sherrod Brown gets to put up a challenge in 2020
July 25, 2012
It is tricky to evaluate a book with such an obvious bias. Sherrod Brown is a Democratic congressman who strongly argues against free trade. The writing style uses strong emotional phrasing to energize the base so sympathizers can rebuff proponents of free trade. The arguments Brown uses are familiar and a little repetitive. Readers probably already are against free trade, and detractors are unlikely to read it. In terms of "fixing the problem," he encourages readers to be more politically informed and active. It is a little strange that he does not encourage readers to non-political activities such as boycotts, charities, grassroots campaigning.
More interesting is his discussion on Congress. He is well aware that most Americans have little faith in Congress. What is more, most congressmen realize this popular perception, even if they do not try to change it. Although Brown never directly says it, a recurring theme throughout the book is that Congressmen - including Republicans - realize that certain legislation hurts their constituents and the country. Therefore, the cause of Congress' seeming hostility to working Americans and overall lethargy is due to privileged elites "convincing" Congressmen to support certain pieces of legislation.
Overall, this book is better written than most politically-biased books. There is a strong central theme and little deviation from it.
More interesting is his discussion on Congress. He is well aware that most Americans have little faith in Congress. What is more, most congressmen realize this popular perception, even if they do not try to change it. Although Brown never directly says it, a recurring theme throughout the book is that Congressmen - including Republicans - realize that certain legislation hurts their constituents and the country. Therefore, the cause of Congress' seeming hostility to working Americans and overall lethargy is due to privileged elites "convincing" Congressmen to support certain pieces of legislation.
Overall, this book is better written than most politically-biased books. There is a strong central theme and little deviation from it.
June 11, 2010
Sherrod Brown is currently a junior United States Senator from the State of Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party.
More than a decade after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the majority of Mexicans are still living in poverty while more than one million American jobs have been lost. Free Trade is a false dogma that Brown has set out to dispel myth by myth in this timely work. From the coffee fields of Nicaragua to the sweatshops all over Asia, Brown illustrates very well with real examples of how Free Trade has benefited a select few while exploiting the majority of the worlds’ population , often with devastating effects.
The book is well written but it needs more organisation. Concepts are duplicated and sometimes repeated over throughout the book. At times, this makes the work seem like a helpless Democrat agenda as arguments are imbalanced and often portrayed to the author’s benefit. Nonetheless the problems highlighted are real and it is about time the leaders of the world take notice.
More than a decade after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the majority of Mexicans are still living in poverty while more than one million American jobs have been lost. Free Trade is a false dogma that Brown has set out to dispel myth by myth in this timely work. From the coffee fields of Nicaragua to the sweatshops all over Asia, Brown illustrates very well with real examples of how Free Trade has benefited a select few while exploiting the majority of the worlds’ population , often with devastating effects.
The book is well written but it needs more organisation. Concepts are duplicated and sometimes repeated over throughout the book. At times, this makes the work seem like a helpless Democrat agenda as arguments are imbalanced and often portrayed to the author’s benefit. Nonetheless the problems highlighted are real and it is about time the leaders of the world take notice.
July 16, 2015
I found this book to be incredibly informative and provocative. I knew precious little concerning the inner workings of free trade deals in general, and next to nothing about the historically-documented negative effects of deals such as NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. on the middle class in the U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who has amassed a great deal of both knowledge and experience in these concerns, fires straight and true in his extremely candid narrative. He clearly illustrates the pitfalls of trade policy that is determined and driven by major corporations interested in profit, with no concern for the quality of life of the regular tax-paying public. Although written in 2005, his engaging book is very pertinent in the light of recent votes on legislation concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership. An absolute must-read for all Americans!
January 22, 2008
Very good book written by a sitting congressman. A funny moment was when Rush Limbaugh said that his views were typical considering his being black (paraphrasing). The only problem is that he is white. Very refreshing to see that there are progressive members of the Senate out there. Argues that our current "Free Trade" policies are based on fallacies and that they not only hurt workers in other countries, but in America as well (a necessary argument considering we Americans dont care about the plight of those outside of our geographical boundaries). Quick read.
October 5, 2015
Another clear account of how trade policy is causing harm to the working middle class with many details on the shady political maneuvering and lobbying for the interests of a small minority whose bureaucratic and corporate interests are served while millions of people lose their jobs and whole communities are destroyed. The work also includes first hand factual reports on the dreadful working conditions in countries to which jobs are transferred. One of the best accounts yet of zero sum globalization by a US senator who has really worked in the interests of the public.
January 11, 2016
I so love it when someone you trust and admire takes the time to explain a topic of immense complexity and immense importance... and do so in a way that is clear and easy to digest. We all owe Senator Brown an immense debt of gratitude for all that he has done to protect our freedoms and quality of life. That he has spelled out the progressive view on trade policy is a bonus. Very well done.
July 13, 2007
Gives every good reason to buy organic and fairtrade products.
April 2, 2016
He is so smart. I wish he were running for President. A very clear presentation office feelings on Trade. Worth skimming at least.
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