Jonathan Dingel, one of my favourite bloggers, is rather less optimistic than me about the merits of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta). Bilateral trade agreements are messy, discriminatory, and are open to pressure from corporate vested interests.
I’d be delighted if the US would unilaterally abandon all of its trade barriers – and the US would gain from so doing. But we should not allow the best be the enemy of the good. Cafta will make the US and Central American countries all better off. That, it seems to me, is something we should celebrate.
Tags: bilateral trade agreement, cafta, Jonathan Dingel