US Trade Policy Research From The Perspective Of Government-Congress Relations

Trade policy is one of the core elements of US foreign policy.In March 2017,the Trump Administration,which has been in power for a month,issued its first trade policy agenda full of "American interests first".Historically,US trade policy has been dominated by trade liberalism and trade protectionism,and wavered in two tendencies.With regard to the evolution of trade rights and trade policies,one cannot help asking: What is the relationship between Congress and trade protectionism,the president and trade liberalism? How is the US foreign trade policy formed? Which factor plays a leading role in this process? How does it work?The study of American trade policy mainly from three levels in academic circles: the international system level,domestic social level,the system of national level.This study chooses to put the country at the center and build a bridge between the international system and the domestic power,so as to break the boundary between the international and the domestic and establish the logical relationship of the three in the foreign trade policy decision-making of the United States.The reason are as followed: first,the power of the international system is manifested through the influence of civil society.The United States has a dominant position in the international economic system,and the domestic society can gain more benefits through free trade.Therefore,the demand for maintaining an open trade policy will increase.On the contrary,for the decay of the American economy,domestic social actors will be the first to feel the loss of interests in international competition,so the demand for trade protection will become louder;Second,domestic social actors generally achieve their goals by influencing congress.As a result of the electoral system of Congress,members of Congress are particularly sensitive to the pressure of special interest groups in the country,and their positions and action directions on trade policy are often guided by this to weigh the desirability of free trade and protectionism;Third,the game between the President and the Congress can ultimately determine the direction of America’s foreign trade policy in the national institutional structure.As the President can perceive less domestic social pressure,he is more able to proceed from the overall interests of the country.Free trade is generally considered to be in line with the long-term interests of the country,so the President is more inclined to free trade policies.Congress,on the other hand,favors protectionism.The constant struggle and compromise between the President and Congress promoted the adjustment and transfer of trade power,which ultimately determined the formulation of U.S.trade policy.Historically,the key nodes of American trade policy mainly includes The SmootHawley Tariff Act,The Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934,Trade Act of 1974,Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988,it correspond to “strong congress and the weak government”,“imperial President”,“imperial President”and weak Congress in the relationship between the government and the congress.This pattern of government meetings has a key impact on the establishment and historical evolution of the U.S.trade system.Entering the era of economic globalization,the degree of economic interdependence is deepening,which brings a series of challenges to US trade policy.In terms of the relationship between the government and Congress,the government and Congress were in a state of “balance of power” from 1993 to 2008.The President was constrained by Congress,he had no choice but to implement multi-track parallel trade policy,and promote free trade in an active and promising way.However,after 2008,the United States is in the era of financial crisis and post-crisis,the domestic society is increasingly polarized,and the government is in a submissive state in the relationship between government and congress.Under the pressure of domestic society and Congress,the trend of trade protectionism in government’s trade policy has become more and more obvious.The trade idea has changed from "free and fair trade" to "absolute trade fairness".Therefore,from the perspective of The President-The Congress relationship,the history of US trade policy development is as follows: when the United States presents the pattern of strong President and weak Congress,its trade policy can usually make strategic response to the structure of the international system and promote trade liberalism.When the United States presents the institutional structure of a weak President and a strong Congress,the United States will be slow to respond to changes in the international system,while it will be more sensitive to changes in the structure of domestic social interests.American trade policies are more likely to compromise with social groups whose interests are damaged in America’s foreign economic relations,thus promoting trade protectionism.