I read an article recently published for a company and the article is very true.  I must agree that protectionism or what they call “Buy American” is not going to solve our economic crisis.  In the long run, it may even hurt us.  We must be cautious to understand that the world is indeed GLOBAL, and the marketplace has changed.  It is no longer regional.  One must know that we work in a global economy and therefore should view the economy as that.  Read the article below:

Adopting a fortress mentality in times of danger seems to be programmed into our DNA – pull up the drawbridge, circle the wagons, Buy American.  While it may give us a sense of good intent and even social justice, just Buying American is not the response called for if the US hopes to lead the world out of this deep recession.

That a financial crisis caused by imprudent lending here spread across the globe like a pandemic underscores the extent to which we have become interconnected and interdependent. There’s no getting the genie back in the bottle. Globalization is a reality, a reality that has greatly improved the lives of millions of people nearly everywhere.  The “Buy American” provision in the US economic stimulus plan is well meaning but fails to take this into account.

Not only will it increase costs and disrupt the supply chains of companies that rely on international suppliers, but it also runs the risk of retaliation and, ultimately, trade wars. Even the head of a major US construction equipment manufacturer that stands to benefit substantially from the plan doesn’t like the “Buy American” caveat, noting it could backfire in the company’s export markets. And it could for exporters of other products as well.

Three weeks ago, the G-7 finance ministers met in Rome to discuss the global crisis. They may have had differences of opinion on a host of issues, but there was unanimity on the importance of keeping the world economy free of protectionism. The head of the World Bank concurred, calling the “Buy American” provision “very dangerous.”

He was alluding to the disastrous protectionist measures that helped plunge the world into the Great Depression. That was 1929 and this is 2009; protectionism didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. If anything, it’s likely to make a bad situation worse, just as it did 80 odd years ago.

So let’s lower the drawbridge, un-circle the wagons, be pragmatic with the “Buy American” provision in the Stimulus Plan, and start working with the rest of the world on resuscitating a global economy that has benefitted so many people in so many countries, including my own.  By virtue of the very business in which we operate – managing the movement of goods around the world – we at BDP are all facilitators and the beneficiaries of international trade.  When import and export activities flourish, BDP flourishes.  Our jobs flourish.

It is not too late to reach out and engage with Congress, the Administration, and others involved in the process,  By doing so you can help send a clear message, both to our government and to our global trading partners, that the U.S. remains committed to free trade.