Professor Layna Mosley has an op-ed in today’s News & Observer that examines the ways that “America First” trade and investment policies could impact U.S. and North Carolina economies.
For those in North Carolina concerned about their economic well-being, “America First” may appeal. Even as our state’s overall employment has expanded, manufacturing jobs have declined. They accounted for 24 percent of employment in 1990, but only 10 percent in 2016. Parts of our state were hit hard by closures of textile and clothing mills, and recovery has been slow. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump linked this decline to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Yet economic analyses as well as historical experience indicate that “America First” trade and investment policies – penalizing U.S.-based companies that locate all or part of their production abroad, withdrawing from current or pending trade agreements – are not a means to prosperity.
Read the full article here.