| 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| (30) | base their positions on the same two outdated |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. |