This refers to “Obama raises bogey on outsourcing again” (January 29). For a country steeped in free market, America has shown striking protectionist tendencies. The US will not improve its economic prospects by hiding behind protectionist walls, however lucrative and popular they might seem in the short term.
One grouse about the outsourcing debate is the lack of hard numbers. Nobody really knows how many jobs have been outsourced overseas. Though Obama himself admits that this alone would not compensate for the seven million jobs lost over past two years, he had to do this to score well at the home front as the pressure was building up and he had to act if not deliver as per the popular sentiment. How can the US urge other countries to lower their trade barriers and open bidding contracts to US companies when they are trying to close their markets and government procurement to foreign suppliers?
MM Gurbaxani, Bangalore
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