So Dick Gephardt has finally found the multilateralist religion. Today he was out trying to revive his flagging run for the president by characterizing the Bush administration’s foreign policy as “arrogant unilateralism” that treats American allies “like so many flies on America’s windshield.” Well, Gephardt should know since the last time he ran for president he was the candidate who called for going around international agreements in order to stick it to America’s European and Asian allies. Gephardt apparently hopes we’ve all forgotten about his failed bid for the president in 1988.
At that time, of course, one of the bigger stories was the American trade deficit. People weren’t smashing Japanese cars anymore to vent their anger, but international trade was still a big issue on the Left of the Democratic Party.
The Reagan administration was attempting to sort out world trade issues through the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations which had gotten underway in 1986. But this multilateral approach didn’t suit the protectionist in Gephardt, so he proposed an amendment to a trade bill that called for mandatory retaliation against nations that maintained large trade surpluses with the United States if did not take measures to reduce those barriers.
Gephardt at the time said that American workers were being “crushed” by competition from Europe and Asia and said that those who disagreed were adopting a “blame America first” mentality.
This did not, to say the least, please the Europeans and Japanese who were its main targets. Denmark Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen attacked Gephardt’s bill and its counterpart in the Senate saying that they threatened to derail ongoing multilateral efforts to reach agreement on trade. Elleman-Jensen told The New York Times, “You’re trying to make your own rules.”
Similarly, EC vice president Frans Andriessen noted the hypocrisy of Gephardt’s protectionism,
For the 80 years until 1971, the United States ran trade surpluses with the rest of the world. What would have happened if other countries adopted policies that many United States Congressmen now favor?
It was left to that great American multilateralist Ronald Reagan to urge Gephardt and his ilk not to turn their backs on America’s allies saying, “This isn’t a time for us to be afraid, to be erecting barriers or to be trying to shut out the world.”
On the campaign trail Gephardt referred to Reagan’s trade policy as “unilateral surrender” to Asians and Europeans. This led to one of the best exchanges on trade ever when Gephardt debated Jack Kemp about trade and, as The New York Times summed it up,
Mr. Gephardt chided Mr. Kemp and the Reagan Administration for its willingness to be tough in negotiations with the Soviet Union — but not in negotiations with America’s trading partners. Mr. Kemp retorted by wonder if the Democrats would instead be weaker toward the Soviet Union and tougher toward America’s allies.
So pardon me if I have to laugh at the thought of Gephardt lecturing the Bush administration about the need to avoid “arrogant unilateralism.”
Sources:
Reagan warning on trade bill. Alex Brummer, The Guardian (London), September 7, 1987.
Europeans attack trade bills. Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, July 20, 1987.
EC’s De Clercq promises retaliation. Janet Porter, Journal of Commerce, June 26, 1987.
Gephardt trades barbs with Kemp. E.J. Dionne Jr., New York Times, July 20, 1987.
Kemp, Gephardt duel over trade. Keith M. Rockwell, Journal of Commerce, July 22, 1987.
Exporters rap trade measure; some claim it could backfire. William Armbruster, Journal of Commerce, July 23, 1987.
Uproar over ‘protectionist’ US bill. Mark Tran, The Guardian (London), July 23, 1987.
Rep. Gephardt takes tough trade message to New Hampshire. Keith M. Rockwell, Journal of Commerce, September 1, 1987.