| Line | Arboria is floundering in the global marketplace, |
| incurring devastating losses in market position and | |
| profits. The problem is not Arboria's products, but | |
| Arboria's trade policy. Arboria faces the prospect | |
| (5) | of continuing economic loss until Arborian business |
| and political leaders recognize the fundamental | |
| differences between Arborian and foreign economic | |
| systems. Today the key trade issue is not free trade | |
| versus protectionism but diminishing trade versus | |
| (10) | expanding trade. |
| Arboria is operating with an obsolete trade policy, | |
| an artifact of the mid-1940s when Arboria and | |
| Whorfland dominated the global economy, tariffs | |
| were the principal obstacle to trade, and Arborian | |
| (15) | supremacy was uncontested in virtually all industries. |
| In the intervening decades, economic circumstances | |
| have shifted radically. Arborian trade policy has not. | |
| Today, Arboria's trade policy seems paralyzed | |
| by the relentless conflict between proponents of | |
| (20) | “free” and “fair” trade. The free traders argue that |
| Arborian markets should be open, and the movement | |
| of goods and services across national borders | |
| unrestrained. The fair traders assert that access to | |
| Arborian markets should be restricted until Arborian | |
| (25) | businesses are granted equal access to foreign |
| markets. They contend that free trade is impossible | |
| while other nations erect barriers to Arborian exports. | |
| Both are correct: fair trade requires equal access | |
| and equal access leads to free trade. But both sides | |
| (30) | base their positions on the same two outdated |
| premises: | |
| 1. Global commerce is conducted under the terms of | |
| the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) | |
| and dominated by Arboria and similar economic | |
| (35) | systems abroad. |
| 2. Multilateral negotiations are the most effective way | |
| to resolve pressing trade issues. | |
| Both assumptions are wrong. The 40-year-old GATT | |
| now covers less than 7 percent of global commerce. | |
| (40) | World trade is no longer dominated by the free- |
| trade economies; nearly 75 percent is conducted | |
| by economic systems operating with principles at | |
| odds with those of Arboria. Forging a multilateral | |
| trade policy consensus among so many diverse | |
| (45) | economic systems has become virtually impossible. |
| And while multilateral talks drag on, Arboria misses | |
| opportunities for trade expansion. |
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