Americans Uniquely Skeptical of Trade Benefits, Says Pew Poll
Developed countries have a far more skeptical and sometimes negative view of trade benefits than developing nations, and the U.S. public is one of the most critical of free trade, a Pew Research Center poll said. The study was released…
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on Sept. 16, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics held an event the following day to analyze the findings. Only 20 percent of Americans think trade creates jobs, as opposed to the two-thirds of people in developing countries that think so. Seventeen percent of Americans said trade raises wages, and only 35 percent of Americans think trade lowers prices on goods. “Frankly I don’t find this that surprising,” said Bruce Stokes, Pew's director of global economic attitudes, at the Peterson Institute event. “If you look at wage growth in United States over the last generation or more, it’s been stagnating or declining. So why in the world would a large portion of Americans say ‘oh trade leads to higher wages’ when in fact they know the economy is more open than it was before.” Susan Schwab, strategic adviser at Mayer Brown and former U.S. Trade Representative, hit back at the findings, saying people typically emphasize negative trade impacts over the positives.