A clean point, thank you. Had you explained it this way the first time
instead of making what appeared to me to be a snide jab at a particular
person, I would not have objected. Politicians from both parties can be
found to support free trade as well as protectionism. Politics makes
strange bedfellows.

David

"J. Del Col" wrote in message
m...
All trade issues are inherently political.

If the Taiwanese can sell better plants at cheaper prices, they win.
That's the way global free trade capitalism works.

If the Hawaiian growers were upfront about it, they'd call for
protection on strictly economic grounds. Right now they sound like
the Japanese rice growers who tried to keep American rice off the
Japanese market on the grounds that it was dirty, when in truth they
just wanted to maintain their domestic monopoly on rice.

The Hawaiians are right; the Taiwanese will almost certainly usurp
their market. The way the WTO rules work, just about the only recourse
the Haiwaiians have is to show that the Taiwanese are dumping orchids
on the market for less than it costs to grow them.

We don't have to go along with the WTO, but we do for various domestic
political purposes.


J. Del Col