Read the new paper HERE

Washington, DC -- Today, Open Markets Institute joined Groundwork Collective to release a new paper authored by Beth Baltzan, a fellow at Open Markets Institute, entitled “COVID-19 and The End of Laissez-Faire Globalization.” The new paper highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis has exposed and exacerbated the flaws in the current global trading system, specifically as shortages of live-saving supplies like masks and ventilators have emerged across the world and countries have resorted to export bans to address them. 

The paper includes specific recommendations for how U.S policymakers can solve these problems by arming our government with the tools they need to crack down on companies engaging in damaging practices to maximize their profits. 

“Despite what many in the business and trade communities claim, we’re not going to solve our supply chain issues simply by removing tariffs and export constraints,” said Beth Baltzan, an Open Markets Institute fellow and author of the new paper. “If we really want to solve the problem of shortages of life-saving equipment, we must go back to the original vision of the founders of the multilateral trading system. We must rebuild the rules to promote fair competition and give governments like ours the tools to work on behalf of workers, families, and long-term economic strength. We have to  stop unfair labor and environmental practices, tax arbitrage, monopolistic behavior, and currency manipulation.”

“COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on so many long-standing and glaring problems with our economic and trade policies that have made this public health and economic crisis so much longer and more painful than it needed to be,” said Sapna Mehta, Director of Policy and Research at the Groundwork Collaborative. “This paper diagnoses some clear flaws in U.S trade policy and lays out strong recommendations for fixing them in a way that will help prevent the kind of problems we’re seeing now and help our economy rebuild with a stronger foundation and shared prosperity.”

 Baltzan writes that the crux of the problem is that countries, including the United States, have allowed the private sector to dictate production and sourcing decisions, which has led to production being concentrated in places where producers can maximize their profits, and ultimately to weak and fragile supply chains that break down in the face of emergencies like COVID-19 – which is exactly what we saw recently with the supply chain of masks and ventilators. 

 Baltzan makes the case that the U.S. government should address this by returning to ideas laid out by economist John Maynard Keynes that would allow governments – and the global trading system itself – to protect fair competition itself. Baltzan concludes with some recommendations for how policymakers can move in that direction.

Read the full paper HERE.

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 About Groundwork Collaborative

Groundwork Collaborative is an initiative dedicated to advancing a progressive economic worldview and narrative. We are committed to collaborating with a diverse array of partners to advance an economic system that produces strong, broadly shared prosperity and abundance for all people, and not just a wealthy few. Our work is driven by one core guiding principle: we are the economy.