“Horizon Project”, ou le patriotisme économique à l’américaine

Il est aujourd’hui admis, quoique encore assez peu connu, que le nouveau Congrès à majorité démocrate est largement méfiant, voire hostile au libre-échange déchaîné tel que la globalisation actuelle l’implique. Robert Kuttner, de l’Economic Policy Institute, nous donne les dernières nouvelles à cet égard, dans un article du Boston Globe (repris le 3 février sur CommonDreams.org)

Kuttner écrit que les nouveaux parlementaires (“freshmen”) sont dans une écrasante majorité des “fair-traders” (partisans du fair-trade de préférence au free-trade : un libre-échange contrôlé d’une main ferme par les autorités du pays qui le pratique) : «Thirty-nine of the 42 freshman Democrats in the House recently sent a letter to the Democratic leadership warning their leaders off the Bush trade agenda. In the Senate, five of the six Democrats who picked up Republican-held Senate seats have joined a new populist caucus, insisting on fairer trade rules.»

Cette nouvelle orientation du Congrès n’est pas une réaction seulement politique et populiste contre la globalisation. Elle est suivie et soutenue par une partie non négligeable du monde économique. Il s’agit de l’équivalent du “patriotisme économique” français, organisé ici par des forces non-gouvernementales, ce qui n’est pas un vrai désavantage dans ce cas si l’on considère l’état pathétique où se trouve le gouvernement.

Bref, — il s’agit de Horizon Project …

«Why does America need more bilateral trade deals, whose purpose is mainly to help US-based industry move production offshore? The liberal Economic Policy Institute (on whose board I serve) has called for a “pause” in such deals until the United States can reassess its economic interest in the face of globalism, and adopt policies to match.

»It's one thing for progressive Democratic politicians to raise these issues. But the most remarkable new proposal, in a week when “free trade” was very much on the defensive, came from a group of corporate CEOs, none of whom can be dismissed as self-interested protectionists.

»The report, released Thursday by the newly organized Horizon Project, called for a healthy economic nationalism, of the sort practiced by every other major trading nation save perhaps Britain. The test, the report argued, should be not what benefits US-based corporations but what is good for America — its workers, communities, technology base, and ultimately its economy.

»The analysis is astute — read it at www.horizonproject.us — but more remarkable are the report's signatories. The project was organized and signed by major corporate CEOs led by Leo Hindery, Jr., former CEO of AT&T Broadband and the cable giant TCI; and including Alfred Berkeley III, former president of NASDAQ; Leonard Schaffer, Founding CEO of WellPoint, the health insurance giant; and Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral, the high-tech defense and aerospace company. Another key leader, and intellectual inspiration of this effort, is Ralph Gomory, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and former chief scientist of IBM.

»Contrary to the usual premise that the current trading system helps both America and its “trading partners,” the report declares that globalization under present rules makes it easier for US multinational corporations to use cheap labor overseas and then import the finished goods back to the United States. “In the process they are building up the capabilities of the emerging Asian states and reducing the capabilities of the United States.”

»The group is not against trade, it just wants much tougher policies to promote symmetrical practices by trading partners, enforced if necessary by tariffs. The Horizon Project also favors substantial new public spending on infrastructure, research, education and training, to help America compete.»

Mis en ligne le 4 février 2007 à 16H48