Taxing the Poor

All of this is unlikely (though not impossible). But even in the absence of a global trade agreement, America has a responsibility to fix its own tariff system -- a system that often punishes the poor.

Current law is supposed to allow developing nations to export duty-free into U.S. markets. In practice, however, restrictions and limits are placed on imported clothing, textiles, footwear and agricultural products -- which are exactly the kind of labor-intensive products that many poor nations produce best. So American tariffs effectively single out the poorest nations for the highest international taxes. On average, these countries pay more than three times the tariff rates of our richest trading partners.

One example: According to the Center for Global Development, Cambodia and Bangladesh pay about the same total tariffs to America as do France and the United Kingdom -- even though those European countries export about 15 times more to the United States. And in 2006, America collected about $850 million in tariffs from Cambodia and Bangladesh, mainly on imported apparel -- which is about seven times more than we provided in foreign assistance to those impoverished countries.

How to change the system? Kimberly Ann Elliott, a senior fellow at CGD, recommends that Congress provide 100 percent duty-free, quota-free access to American markets for 70 of the most vulnerable countries on Earth -- ending the discrimination against products produced by the world's poor.

There are good humanitarian reasons for this reform, which would help nations suffering from a global recession they did nothing to cause. There are national security justifications: America has a direct interest in promoting economic growth and stability in parts of the world otherwise prone to terrorism, criminal gangs and epidemic diseases.

And there is a domestic economic argument. The very products produced by the poor abroad -- clothing, shoes, food -- are necessities for the poor at home. Our current tariff system is a regressive tax on these goods.

The cost of this reform to American manufacturers would be minimal -- even under Elliott's proposal, less than 2 percent of American imports would come from the countries granted duty-free, quota-free access. But the effect in those nations could be large. Even if international trade is no longer cause for poetry, it is cause for hope.