No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America's Workers

Ambassador Lighthizer has written an essential book for anyone interested in:1. International trade. Lighthizer is beyond an expert in the arena. He offers a sweeping overview of trade law and practice.2. US politics. Lighthizer exemplifies how politics should be done: building broad coalitions around beneficial policy.3. The rise of China. Lighthizer was on the front lines of one of the defining conflicts of our age: the rise of authoritarian China. He lays out the case against China and what must be done.For those interested in trade, the book is unmatched. Here we have an approachable, comprehensive overview of trade law and its practical effects on America. Not only that, the tales of negotiations from a clear master are alone worth the price of admission.The narrative of the USMCA negotiations and passage reach beyond the key international trade issues — though fascinating and important — to provide an example of how politics should be practiced. Our country would be in better shape if more politics were handled as Lighthizer did USMCA: working hand-in-hand with politicians across the spectrum as well as unions, industry, and all stakeholders to craft a deal that works for America. The proof is that it garnered such broad support that it passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities even as impeachment hearings were proceeding. Simply amazing.Last but certainly not least, Lighthizer handled a key front in the burgeoning US conflict with China. Appropriately for what is clearly to be the defining challenge of our age, he devotes a third of the book to laying out the case against China, documenting the trade conflict he led, and suggesting the proper steps going forward. This highly informed view is invaluable to all concerned with the future of our world.This is an essential book: it is well-written, authoritative and offers excellent insights from a master of the crafts of trade, negotiation and politics. Highly recommended.

At the end of the introduction, Ambassador Lighthizer writes that he intends to give the history and philosophy of his worker-oriented trade policy. He achieves that ambitious goal, and then some. The book is a sophisticated guide to the growing political and economic case against free trade as it was implemented since the creation of the World Trade Organization in the 1990s. It lays out a radically different path, and is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the current landscape of international economic relations and great power competition.Whatever your priors on trade (or if you have none at all) - the book is important because the ideas espoused (and implemented) by Lighthizer are at the heart of a growing bipartisan shift away from the unfettered globalization of the 1990s. Despite slightly different framings and emphases at times, the Biden administration has adopted many of the core tenets of Lighthizer's (and therefore Trump's) "worker-oriented trade policy" - which he lays out in clear prose in Chapter 2 (titled "Where We Are Now"). In the book, Lighthizer advocates for moving past the simplistic analysis of undergraduate Econ 101 lectures. He convincingly demonstrates how the particulars of 20th and 21st century globalization and trade integration have led to massive distributional impacts that have harmed America's most vulnerable workers while leaving us with a weakened industrial base that is incapable of supporting our national security needs. Despite the inevitable protestations of some more ideologically rigid critics, Lighthizer fully understands the traditional economist's case for free trade - and coherently argues that pursuit of lower consumer prices in the short term is much too limited of a goal to form the basis of the formal international economic policy of the US government. In line with the academic work of scholars like Michael Pettis and Dani Rodrik - whom he cites extensively- Lighthizer argues that the dogmatic mantra of "free trade is always good" misses the point. He explains that complete elimination of trade barriers may increase efficiency, but that efficiency comes at the price of weakened economic resiliency, threatened national security, and growing income inequality.In addition to making a comprehensive intellectual argument for a vigorous trade policy that places American workers (and not multinational corporate profits) as its first priority, the book provides a rare behind the scenes look at how the sausage of international economic relations and geopolitics gets made. He reveals the method behind the so-called trade wars of the Trump administration, and gives a never before seen play by play of the work that went on to fundamentally reverse trade policy priorities and elevate the threat posed by China in the Trump administration. The picture that emerges is of a canny and pragmatic negotiator who genuinely cares about the working class, and is able to help President Trump actually execute on one of his core populist promises. The praise Lighthizer gives to Nancy Pelosi and the Katherine Tai (his successor as USTR) for their work helping him pass his agenda hints at why. Lighthizer is, in a sense, really bringing conservatives along to what many labor-oriented progressives (as opposed to neoliberal democrats) had been saying for years. There's a reason that the president of the US Steel Workers union has a blurb on the back of the book. This book lays out a vision for a trade policy consensus that can help begin to reverse deindustrialization, income inequality, and prepare us for an era of great power competition. Its author has a record of getting things done, and is one of the few people who has both Donald Trump's and Nancy Pelosi's ear. Give it a read, and see if you agree for yourself.

Ambassador Lighthizer wrote a convincing critique of the free trade doctrine of the past three decades, challenging the premise that world trade has been free when a non market economy like China has been practicing unfair, mercantilist trade policy while mispresenting itself as a champion of the global trade order. A must read to understand US' turn against the global trade system as it has been implemented since the 90s.