Abstract

So runs postwar history, we learn from the opening paragraph of a front-page story by New York Times political analyst David Sanger. But times are changing. Today, the headline reads: "U.S. Is Exporting Its Free- Market Values Through Global Commercial Agreements." Going beyond the traditional reliance on the UN, the Clinton administration is turning to the new World Trade Organization (WTO) to carry out the task of "exporting American values." Down the road, Sanger continues (quoting the U.S. trade representative), it is the WTO that may be the most effective instrument for bringing "America’s passion for deregulation" and for the free market generally, and "the American values of free competition, fair rules, and effective enforcement," to a world still fumbling in darkness. These "American values" are illustrated most dramatically by the wave of the future: telecommunications, the Internet, advanced computer technology, and the other wonders created by the exuberant American entrepreneurial spirit unleashed by the market, at last freed from government interference by the Reagan revolution.