Obama's big failure: his vague, cautious trade policy.

• Author: Aaronson, Susan Ariel
• Position: Barack Obama

When Americans went to the polls in 2008, they cast their ballot for the more deliberative and creative candidate. Voters wanted change and Barack Obama delivered. Despite the cumulative pressure of multiple crises, from two wars to an economy in freefall President Obama was able to remake key aspects of U.S. governance. Working with a fractious Congress, Obama's team has made significant changes to U.S. health, education, and banking regulatory policies. Beyond U.S. borders, Obama and his team have reestablished constructive relations around the world and remade national security

Yet the Obama Administration has offered few new ideas in the realm of trade policy, an area essential to long-term U.S. and global economic growth. It is way past time for a rethink of U.S. trade policy-given global interdependence, increasing competition for resources, and the unanticipated spillovers of the growing reliance by governments on preferential trade agreements, rather than multilateral trade liberalization. Alas, President Obama's approach to trade policy has been cautious and vague. And in the face of U.S. timidity, few other nations are willing to "think big."

To his credit, President Obama early on recognized he could not negotiate new agreements unless he addressed longstanding public concerns. Thus, Congress expanded eligibility and strengthened trade adjustment assistance programs so that more individuals who lose jobs due to trade have income, retraining, and healthcare until they find other jobs. He also promised to focus on enforcement of existing trade agreements and stressed that his team would vigorously scrutinize foreign labor practices. Finally, his U.S. Trade Representative tried to involve more citizens in the policymaking process by making the USTR web site interactive and broadening the membership of trade advisory committees. In recent months, the Administration became more ambitious, announcing that the United States would enter into negotiations for a regional Asia-Pacific trade agreement and would work to gain Congressional approval for three free trade agreements negotiated by the previous Administration. The President also promised to double exports over the next five years with his National Export Initiative. However, in the face of a rising dollar and a lifeless Doha Round, and the failure to develop a broad rethink of trade, it is unlikely that U.S. business can achieve that goal.

Because they have not put forward an...