Last night, the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the 10th inning of Game 7 to win their first World Series since 1908. It was an incredible end to an amazing series. There will be much rejoicing in the city of Chicago as lifelong fans get to celebrate the first world championship in 108 years. (Trust me, I live with one.)
As the American Apparel and Footwear Association’s Steve Lamar wrote the other day in The Hill, there are numerous ways that international trade is like baseball. Those similarities can teach many lessons. For example, competition is fierce between companies both within the United States and across the globe. Yet there is a very important difference between trade and baseball: trade can (and does) have many winners.
Take our new research on potential tax cuts if Congress passes TPP. It shows that TPP could eliminate $650 million in tariffs on imports into Illinois and eliminate $1.3 billion in tariffs on imports into Ohio in the first five years. Unlike baseball, where no result could have made both Cubs and Indians fans happy, these potential savings from trade are not mutually exclusive. TPP tariff reductions on imports into Illinois in no way prevent companies in Ohio from benefiting – or Alabama or Wyoming or any other state. Cubs and Indians fans can both win!
These gains add up. If US tariffs of 20-30 percent on footwear and clothing go away, the American families have more money to put towards other priorities, whether that is other goods, saving for college, or even baseball tickets. If tariffs on industrial goods and raw materials are eliminated, American manufacturers can lower prices (thus driving up sales) or invest those savings into developing new products, hiring new workers, or purchasing needed equipment. Once again, there can be many winners.
With so many aspects of our lives viewed through a lens of either winning or losing, it can be hard to see trade differently. There can be only one World Series champion. Cubs and Indians fans both know that is unquestionably true. Fortunately, the TPP (and trade more generally) is subject to a different set of rules where many can win.