ABSTRACT
The Macdonald Commission, as it was colloquially known, concluded that United States trade policy is created and applied through political and legal processes which decentralise decision-making power and enhance the political influence of relatively small and narrowly based interest groups such as unions and trade associations. This chapter reviews background material on theoretical explanations as to why the United States has been pursuing certain directions in its trade policies and why these trade policies are posing a problem for its trading partners. Reciprocity would restrict foreign corporations from undertaking the same activities in the United States that US corporations in that foreign country were not permitted to do. Instead of focusing on economic explanations for decline in these areas, the United States focused increasingly on the unfairness of its foreign competitors’ economic activities, particularly on what other nations’ governments did for their industries. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
