Achieving Middle East Peace Through Trade

Excellent peice by Ed Gresser of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)

"So far, none of our efforts to stabilize or pacify the greater Middle East region have worked. We have tried aid programs, military action, sanctions, and diplomacy. There is another alternative - trade policy - supported by aid, diplomacy, intelligence, and military capability...the missing element in US policy has been economics. The Muslim world has endured a prolonged and little-recognized economic depression. Failure in trade is among its main causes, and trade policy is therefore a practical strategy for fighting unemployment and generating an economic recovery in the region."

Fact: US's permanent tariff system imposes higher penalties on the goods big Muslim countries export than on those we buy from wealthy countries. On average, American tariffs are 2.4 percent. But for exports most important to Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, Lebanon and outher countries in the region - clothes, bedsheets, towels, shoes, glass, luggage, ceramics - the average tariff rises to 15 percent.

Achieving Peace and Prosperity in the Greater Middle East - One Tariff-Free Towel at a Time
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=85&subsecID=108&contentID=254840