Trading, Trading, Over the Unbound Seas

 The Western World is trying to dismantle trade barriers.

   Remember all the fuss about NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement? It cleared away a lot of barriers and led to increased business among the several nations that signed on. Remember the European Common Market, which cleared away a lot of trade barriers and led to the formation of the EU, the European Union?
   Now suppose the EU and the U.S. get together and clear away a lot of trade barriers and increase business by billions of dollars yearly across the pond. Talks got under way this week to do just that. And if successful, it will lead to the largest marketplace ever. That, however, is a very big if.
   In a way, it's a side door for other NAFTA nations. Consider this: Canada likes it, because it will expand auto exports, which are now about 13,000 vehicles from Canada to the EU, but 114,000 the other way, according to the Canadian Press. The U.S. likes it because it will open European doors for more U.S. exports.
   Some Europeans, however, don't like it because it may provide more opportunities for data-gathering -- read spying -- by the U.S.  on a scale revealed recently.
   Moreover, there are regulatory issues, many of which contradict each other. For example, the BBC reported that cheese made in Europe from unpasteurized milk is not allowed in America, and American chicken processors use a bleach bath to reduce contamination, a process banned in Europe.
   Details, details, details.

   And medicines. A drug licensed for sale in America may take another two years before it's cleared for use in Europe, and vice-versa, the BBC reported. So what if a drug is approved for use in Europe, is it then automatically approved for use in America? That's another issue to be settled. Perhaps a single international food and drug agency would be set up, but who would be the members, and would one side dominate?
   Remember thalidomide? It was approved for use in Europe, but blocked in the U.S. Results in Europe were disastrous, but American mothers and their babies escaped the infant deformities that resulted when pregnant women took the medication.

   On the whole, economics teaches that eliminating trade barriers is a good thing. Politics, however, clashes with economics when tariffs are set up in one country to protect certain industries and workers.