Myron Brilliant of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The concept of Free Trade involves the word ‘free’ but Americans aren’t giving anything away, says Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Not jobs. Not sales. Rather, it’s an concept that can only help us to make more money and have more choices, he says.

First of all,  we’re already importing goods from all over the world, says Brilliant. (Indeed, the import TK ) When drawing up these free trade contracts, we’re asking other countries we already do business with to open their customs departments wider for our stuff, he says. 

If we asked ourselves, “Is it good for U.S. companies to export to other countries?” our replies would be favorable. If we wondered, “Is it good for U.S. companies to part of global commerce?” we’d probably answer affirmatively. And when we think about shopping, we probably don’t have to spend too much time deciding whether we like lots of choices. Italian sofas. French clothing. All in an array of prices and quality.

“The world is interconnected,” says Brilliant. “In the old days, if all other world economies had a cold we could survive. That’s no longer true.”