Foreign Terrorists Could Never Damage America As Much As Free Trade Is Doing!

By Ken Davis and Will Wilkin

This article was originally published on the Balanced Trade Blog.

Terrorists kill innocent people and attack prominent symbolic targets in order to inflict the maximum shock and emotional pain. Terrorism is a form of asymmetrical warfare, used by a relatively weak party as the most effective way to hurt a relatively strong party.

On this 13th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon --and despite America spending well over $1.5 TRILLION in a “war on terrorism”-- the sad fact is that the ideology and military forces of Islamic Terrorism are stronger than ever. The devastating attacks in Iraq and Syria by the ISIS Islamist extremist group is an alarming sign of that. ISIS wants to establish a militant Islamist caliphate, from the mediterranean coast of Syria to the southern borders of Iraq. And the alarms are sounding in Washington: Sen. Lindsey Graham, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, and Ret. Gen. Peter Chiarelli even predict ISIS will develop the goal and capability of “911- type” attacks on our country.

But the worst of it all is that America itself is significantly weaker today than it was in 2001. Our productive economy has been hugely devastated to the extent only a very large military enemy could have done to us. The irony is that no terrorist group could achieve even a fraction of the damage to our country that our own trade policies are doing. No terrorist group could remove the 63,000+ factories we lost since 2001, or destroy the 4.8 million manufacturing jobs we’ve lost in that time.

The job and industry losses are actually higher, considering the loss of multiplier-effect jobs manufacturing creates in other sectors (capital goods, supply chains, transport, design & engineering, etc). A decade of merchandise trade deficits averaging over $700 billion per year sends out dollars that come back in foreign purchases of American companies and technology. Losing our industries has also off-shored much of our military equipment supply chains, opening vulnerabilities in the event of a genuine military threat to our country.

The U.S. will do what it can to help Iraq, but we must put highest priority on our strength here at home. Most of all, we must stop the de-industrialization of our nation by excessive imports from a half-million foreign producers.

Balanced Trade Associates has a plan and proposed legislation to rebuild America’s domestic industries and regain control of our rich home market. Now it’s also a vital necessity for protecting our national security.

Click here to read our proposed legislation: “The Balanced Trade Restoration Act of 2014.”

If passed by Congress, the law would limit our imports to the same value of our exports, diverting the $700 billion trade deficits to that much more demand for US-made goods. That would directly create over 6 million new US manufacturing jobs and, through the multiplier-effect, indirectly create over 2 million more new US jobs in other sectors. It is based on our unequivocal and sovereign right to reduce the flow of imports into our market and eliminate our ruinous ongoing trade deficits that are bleeding away our industries. If Washington genuinely wants to make America strong, they would start by replacing Free Trade with a Balanced Trade policy.

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Kenneth N. Davis is the Executive Director of Balanced Trade Associates. He is a former US Asst. Secretary of Commerce and a former VP-CFO of IBM Inc. Will Wilkin is Deputy Director of Balanced Trade Associates and a Co-Owner-Operator of Made In USA Solar LLC.