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But they would be singing a totally different tune if the most popular sites and services were to be, say, British. Much more if they were Chinese, German, etc.

But they would be singing a totally different tune if the most popular sites and services were to be, say, British. Much more if they were Chinese, German, etc. This is pretty far off the mark. American subscription to free market orthodoxy has many flaws but protectionist hypocrisy isn't high on the list. There are many categories (including, I might add, smartphones!) where foreign companies reign and there's almost no protectionist sentiment. I've never heard anyone recommend a Vizio TV over a Samsung because Vizio is US based. You'd be amazed at how many Honda, Toyota, BMW and Kia cars you'll find in Detroit.

arjunnarayan 14y ago
Sugar (from Brazil), steel (from everywhere), pretty much most agricultural subsidies are directly contrary to free trade principles, open skies limits (foreign airlines have a hard time flying to various US destinations and cannot do US-US flights without major wrangling). And that's just off the top of my head. The US is definitely high on the free trade hypocrisy list. The US spent the 80s and 90s loudly excoriating the world for not signing up to the endless free lunches of free trade (read: import US stuff). Once the world signed up, the US started putting up domestic protectionist barriers. The most high profile case I remember is the steel import restriction debacle, but the rest matter too. Don't forget that the Japanese car companies had to move production to the US in 1981 to pacify the government, and for a long time they imposed "voluntary" limits on themselves to stave off the eventual US trade restrictions.
- berntb 14y ago
  Food protectionism is afaik mostly an EU thing (I've seen arguments that EU is a French hostage on this point, which mostly is negative for the 3rd world). The US has to live with us from the EU. From the EU example, you might note that the democratic world (including the US) is not a monolith with one face.
msellout 14y ago
USA's desire for a free market is industry-dependent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_United_States_steel_tariff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_United_States_steel_tariff
goatforce5 14y ago
> You'd be amazed at how many Honda, Toyota, BMW and Kia cars you'll find in Detroit. ...all of whom have manufacturing plants in the US.
coldtea 14y ago
>This is pretty far off the mark. American subscription to free market orthodoxy has many flaws but protectionist hypocrisy isn't high on the list. Oh, it very much is I'd say. The US pays lip service to the "free market" but subsidies their agriculture big time. It gives billions (trillion?) to it's car industry. And most important of all, it uses its military and diplomatic might to secure favorable trade agreements and cheep resources. The very term "banana republic" was coined for whole countries with pro-American corporations puppet governments. All this is using the country's money and power to ensure a favorable trade outcome. Nothing "free trade" about it. But I was talking less of mere products (of which American can consume easily, a chair is after all a chair) and more of cultural consumption (foreign movies, music, etc). But even for mere products you have people seeing Japanese car buyers as not "buying American", articles and politicians asking why Apple is not producing stuff in the US, lamenting the outsourcing of jobs, etc.

arjunnarayan 14y ago

Sugar (from Brazil), steel (from everywhere), pretty much most agricultural subsidies are directly contrary to free trade principles, open skies limits (foreign airlines have a hard time flying to various US destinations and cannot do US-US flights without major wrangling). And that's just off the top of my head. The US is definitely high on the free trade hypocrisy list. The US spent the 80s and 90s loudly excoriating the world for not signing up to the endless free lunches of free trade (read: import US stuff). Once the world signed up, the US started putting up domestic protectionist barriers. The most high profile case I remember is the steel import restriction debacle, but the rest matter too. Don't forget that the Japanese car companies had to move production to the US in 1981 to pacify the government, and for a long time they imposed "voluntary" limits on themselves to stave off the eventual US trade restrictions.

berntb 14y ago
Food protectionism is afaik mostly an EU thing (I've seen arguments that EU is a French hostage on this point, which mostly is negative for the 3rd world). The US has to live with us from the EU. From the EU example, you might note that the democratic world (including the US) is not a monolith with one face.

msellout 14y ago

USA's desire for a free market is industry-dependent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_United_States_steel_tariff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_United_States_steel_tariff

goatforce5 14y ago

> You'd be amazed at how many Honda, Toyota, BMW and Kia cars you'll find in Detroit. ...all of whom have manufacturing plants in the US.

coldtea 14y ago

>This is pretty far off the mark. American subscription to free market orthodoxy has many flaws but protectionist hypocrisy isn't high on the list. Oh, it very much is I'd say. The US pays lip service to the "free market" but subsidies their agriculture big time. It gives billions (trillion?) to it's car industry. And most important of all, it uses its military and diplomatic might to secure favorable trade agreements and cheep resources. The very term "banana republic" was coined for whole countries with pro-American corporations puppet governments. All this is using the country's money and power to ensure a favorable trade outcome. Nothing "free trade" about it. But I was talking less of mere products (of which American can consume easily, a chair is after all a chair) and more of cultural consumption (foreign movies, music, etc). But even for mere products you have people seeing Japanese car buyers as not "buying American", articles and politicians asking why Apple is not producing stuff in the US, lamenting the outsourcing of jobs, etc.