From US Newswire:
The German Marshall Fund of the United States commissioned a survey on trade and poverty. The key findings:-- Americans are less favorable toward further international trade deals than Europeans. A high proportion of Europeans -- 82 percent of French and 83 percent of British -- want more international trade agreements, compared to just 54 percent in the US.
-- Two out of three respondents believe that trade is better than aid for helping developing countries: Seventy-four percent of Germans, 71 percent of British, 68 percent of Americans and 53 percent of French prefer trade to aid.
-- Americans are less supportive of development aid than the French, British, or Germans: Support for development assistance runs deepest in Britain, with 44 percent strongly in favor, 19 percentage points higher than the average score of the remaining three countries. Conversely, the strongest opposition to development assistance is found in the United States: 27 percent oppose aid, with 10 percent strongly opposed -- twice as many as in the other countries. Only 21 percent of Americans strongly favor assistance.
-- Multinational companies seen as primary beneficiaries of global trade: More than half (56 percent) of respondents feel that multinational corporations benefit most from trade. The numbers are particularly high in France (65 percent), Germany (62 percent) and the US (53 percent). Slightly less than half of the British respondents (43 percent) see multinationals as the prime beneficiaries.
-- Europeans overwhelmingly believe Senator Kerry would be better at promoting economic growth and prosperity than President Bush. Nearly 3 out of 4 Europeans prefer Kerry to Bush on this subject, Americans prefer Kerry to Bush by a slim margin 41 to 36 percent.
-- The jury of public opinion remains out on the WTO: Forty-two percent of Americans surveyed have a favorable opinion of the World Trade Organization (WTO), while 29 percent view it unfavorably. An equal number have no opinion of the WTO. A similar situation exists in Great Britain and Germany. Only in France, where the demonstrations against the WTO have been most angry, is public opinion decidedly against the WTO.
Matt's Chat
International Welfare is not the answer. It really isn't. Goes back to the old "teach a guy to fish" analogy for me.I'm all for free trade, but I'm an even bigger supporter of fair trade.
For the record, here is President Bush's stance on international trade that is well worth a look if you're an American buying the European line...
