In the past few years, one of the most controversial economic issues has been global free trade. The proponents claim that nations engaged in open trade would experience a great deal of economic growth. Opponents think that giving foreign countries unrestricted access to American markets will cause a decrease in the number of American jobs, and will pose a threat to American sovereignty. It is the opinion of this writer that the latter is correct. The problem with global free trade is really fourfold.
             The first and foremost problem with such measures is, as stated above, the threat posed to American sovereignty. All free trade agreements set up international bureaucracies to govern the participants; to ensure that all parties comply with the terms of the agreement. Vice President Gore tried to allay the concerns of the opponents of GATT by claiming that the World Trade Organization would hold no authority over the U.S. He claimed that we would only be bound by those rules which we agree to and no others. However, in his very next breath, he claimed that other countries could be forced to comply with their "international trade obligations" (Gore). Clearly, this is a complete contradiction. No contry, except perhaps the U.S., would agree to so obvious a double standard.
             Newt Gingrich is at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the Vice-President. Of GATT, he once said, "... we need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States at a practical level significant authority to a new organization... I would feel better if the people who favor this would just be honest about the scale of change." ("How Can") However, despite his own concerns, and the victory he was handing his political opponents, he publicly supported and voted for GATT. Self-flagellation seems to be a hobby of these people.
             The second problem deals with the market size. How does the size of the market in the U.S. compare with ...