Archive Report
Archive Report
Trends in World Trade
Political Implications of the Trade Issue
For the first two years of the Reagan administration, the overriding domestic issue was the state of the economy. The focus of concern changed, however, as the deepening recession brought with it a significant drop in the rate of inflation that had preoccupied Americans during the previous administration. With the rise of business failures over the past two years, concern has shifted to the plight of the unemployed. Critics of the administration point first to domestic economic policy and the “supply-side” theory on which it rests. But increasingly, labor leaders and their political allies in the Democratic Party are looking abroad for answers to the nation's economic woes. They maintain that America's trading partners and traditional ...