Questions and Answers on Expanding U.S. Trade Bryan T. Johnson Policy Analyst http://www.heritage.org/library/categories/trade/tp23.html Answering Commonly Asked Questions About Trade Q: Doesn't free trade destroy American jobs? Q: Doesn't free trade hurt low-wage workers by sending their jobs to other countries while favoring higher-wage workers? Q: As U.S. exports have grown, so have imports. Doesn't an increase in imports displace Americans who could have manufactured those products here? Q: Aren't U.S. factories moving overseas just to take advantage of cheaper labor? Q: Aren't American jobs lost when American businesses move overseas? Q: Don't import quotas, tariffs, and other barriers to trade protect domestic jobs? Q: Don't foreign companies operating in the United States siphon off the wealth of Americans by sending their profits back home? Q: Doesn't buying imports send too much American money overseas? Q: Does the dramatic increase in the U.S. trade deficit over the past several decades mean that Americans are squandering their wealth overseas? Q: Don't trade deficits with countries like Japan and China harm the U.S. economy and mean these countries are winning the economic war? Shouldn't we increase our barriers to imports from these countries to protect our own economy? Q: Won't Americans' standard of living be lowered because some foreign countries subsidize their domestic businesses to make their products cheaper to buy? Q: Isn't free trade destroying America's manufacturing base and creating a service-oriented economy? Q: Shouldn't less-developed nations protect developing industries with trade barriers to make them more competitive in the international marketplace?