As long as you have a political pension and benefits for life like Gordon Brown and others who talk up free trade. It's all fine and good to talk about the evils of protectionism but you have to be able to address the valid concerns of working people who watch their jobs go overseas or pay decline rapidly. Global trade can offer many plenty of positive benefits but to just wing it and open everything (think NAFTA) without restrictions isn't the answer either. Can a worker in France, for example, really compete with someone in Bulgaria for the same job but at a fraction of the pay? We see this struggle over and over on both sides of the Atlantic.
These are problems that Western Europe and the US are facing and neither extreme position is the right answer. Even when we do set up so-called free trade, all too often it only means free for local special interests and not-so-free for everyone else. Many in the emerging markets would like less dumping by First World countries and greater ability to sell their own products overseas. As the British economy heads downhill, how many regular families are going to want to dive in to the unrestricted free market? Moving in that direction over time is one thing, but the well being of families is at stake, so no need to rush overnight.
