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QUESTION
Foreign Economics and the National Foreign Economics and the National
Please discuss the following issue:
You have been assigned the responsibility of developing a memo to the White House articulating your Department’s position on a piece of legislation that is currently being considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has requested the Administration’s views of the legislation before it sends the legislation to the floor for a vote. The White House has also asked for the views of the Departments impacted by the issue.
Choose one of these roles – State, Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services – and provide your memo to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Your memorandum should at least 350 words but no more than 500 words in length. Please format your post as a memorandum. It’s easy to find samples online. You should address all the issues below.
The proposed legislation would do three things. First it would establish tariffs against imports from China and other low-wage countries in Asia and Africa (allies like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan would be exempted). Supporters of this legislation claim that the flood of such imports has eroded America’s domestic manufacturing to the point where action needs to be taken in order to shrink the unemployment rate in this country. In so doing, government tax revenues would increase and spending on programs like unemployment insurance and Social Security would shrink.
Second, the legislation would require the White House to designate high tech and defense industries in which foreign investment by countries that are not members of NATO would be limited. Supporters of the legislation argue that foreign investors should not be able to gain control over companies essential to national defense or to America’s technological leadership in the key industries of tomorrow.
Third, the legislation would prohibit the importation of any goods from a foreign corporation that has been found by either the Secretaries of the Commerce or Health and Human Services Departments to have violated American consumer safety rules. The legislation would require annual reports by the White House listing those foreign corporations.
Your memorandum should evaluate the short and long term effects that this legislation is likely to have. Specifically, the memorandum should address:
1.) How might this legislation contradict previous US policy commitments under the World Trade Organization? (see http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm1_e.htm)
2.) How might this legislation affect US-Chinese foreign policy relations – especially with respect to efforts to get China to work with us in de-nuclearizing North Korea and to reaching a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue?
The initial required post (at least 350 words) should be supported by course readings using parenthetical references. More than two follow-ups should be at least 150 words.
Additionally here are some more resources (videos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ANSWER
Foreign Economics and the National Economic Council
Memorandum
DATE: October 7, 2019.
TO: The White House, The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
FROM: Health and Human Services Department.
SUBJECT: Comments on the Proposed Legislation
The legislation proposed by the senate relates to foreign relations, specifically on trade and relations with low-wage countries. The legislation seeks to create tariffs against any imports from China and other low-wage countries in Africa and Asia. Allies such as Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea would be exempted from these tariffs. While such tariffs would reduce the negative effect that the flood of imports has had on the domestic manufacturing sector, including reducing the rate of unemployment and increasing government tax revenues, they may negatively affect the relations between the United States and countries such as China (Rohrlich, 1987). The previous government regimes (Clinton, Bush, and Obama led governments) put in a lot of work to improve relations and cooperation with China.
The Chinese government has over the years sought to join the WTO, trying to convince the US administration that they are ready. Imposing the tariffs would ruin the relations between China and the US, which would result in even worse trade wars than those being experienced currently. In addition, such tariffs would derail the government’s efforts to get China to work with the United States towards de-nuclearizing North Korea and resolving the Taiwan problem. The legislation also seeks to ensure that the White House designates defense and high-tech industries with limited foreign investment by countries that are non-NATO members. While this designation would prevent foreign investors from gaining control over industries that are essential to the US national defense and the technological leadership of the country, it would create bad blood between the United States and foreign investors.
Trade liberalization has been advocated for by the WTO and the previous US government regimes (Rohrlich, 1987). Free trade and foreign investment have been a focus of most governments over the last decade, including the US government, the Chinese government, and African governments. Prohibiting foreign investors from investing in high-tech and defense industries for purposes of protecting the technological leadership of the United States may result in bad international relations especially with countries that are focused on competing with the United States for technological leadership, such as China and South Korea. The WTO, which advocates for free and liberalized trade, as well as good international relations, would be against the legislation since it would hinder free trade and foreign investment.
Lastly, the proposed legislation seeks to prohibit the importation of goods from foreign companies that have been found to have violated any American consumer safety rule or regulation. This legislation would require the White House to provide annual reports listing any foreign companies that are in violation of consumer safety regulations. The American consumer safety regulations protect the public from unsafe and poor-quality products. The legislation would sit well with the WTO, which advocates for quality standards and product safety in international trade activities (Dolan & Rosati, 2006). Countries would be forced to uphold consumer safety regulations in order to conduct trade with the United States. The legislation would not negatively affect international relations.
In conclusion, the proposed legislation seeks to improve the performance of the American manufacturing sector and to increase the government’s tax income. It also seeks to safeguard the country’s position in international trade and to protect the public from unscrupulous traders. The Health and Human Services Department supports the legislation for these reasons. However, the Senate should consider the concerns posed in this memo before further deliberation to come up with ways of ensuring good international relations.
References
Dolan, C. J., & Rosati, J. A. (2006). US foreign economic policy and the significance of the National Economic Council. International Studies Perspectives, 7(2), 102-123.
Rohrlich, P. E. (1987). Economic culture and foreign policy: The cognitive analysis of economic policy making. International Organization, 41(1), 61-92.
