“Reciprocal. That means: we do it and we do it very simple. I can’t be simpler than that.” In his speech of the “Day of Liberation” of April 2, Donald Trump repeatedly requested a return to reciprocity. According to him, his absence explains the chronic commercial deficits of the United States.
Reciprocity is a concept with two meanings. In a positive context: an advantage for an advantage. In a negative one: an eye for an eye. Historical, reciprocity was used as a way of protecting the US market. But after 1934, it became a tool to open international markets. In the 1980s, the concept resurfaced in the protectionist vocabulary.
The word appears in numerous commercial treaties, starting with the first American commercial treaty signed with France in 1778. It is also established as a principle in the General Agreement on Rates and Commerce (GATT) signed in 1947 and the treaty that created the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. Its definition seems quite simple: “The reward can be an effective strategy for cooperation between cooperation between cooperation between cooperation between cooperation between cooperation between cooperation between cooperation Self -integrated, “, its definition seems quite simple:” Reciprocity can be an effective strategy for cooperation between the players of the self -integrated, “.
‘Quack Remedy’
But those in Washington today made reciprocity their creed is subscribed to a tradition hostile to free trade that dates back to the 19Th Century. In its mercantilist worldview, a commercial deficit with another country is inevitably a defeat. Therefore, they believe that rates and non -tariff barriers must be exactly the same with each commercial partner. Instead or “free trade”, there must be “fair trade.”
In 19Th-Century England, the notion of reciprocity served as a standard for several protectionist groups, such as the British industry magazines, the Reciprocity Free Trade Association and the National League of Fair Trade. Free merchants were not deceived. “There is a quack remedy called reciprocity, and this Chalatan remedy is under the special protection of the Doctor of the Quack,” Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809-1898) gave in a speech of 1879, partly emphasizing the protection of the word. “
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