Daniel Drezner trots out some content from his new CFR book in a WaPo column. The most interesting part:

Why has U.S. trade policy ground to a halt? Shifts in domestic attitudes and world politics have combined to create one of the least hospitable environments for trade liberalization in recent memory. The most dramatic shift in opinion came from Americans making more than $100,000 a year. According to the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), support in that income group for promoting trade dropped to 28 percent in 2004 from 57 percent in 1999. A September 2005 German Marshall Fund (GMFUS) survey revealed that 57 percent believe that freer trade destroys more American jobs than it creates, and 58 percent of Americans would favor raising tariffs for imported goods if it meant protecting jobs — a higher number than in Germany, France, or Great Britain. Healthy majorities believe that trade primarily benefits multinational corporations at the expense of small businesses.

While those surveyed are incorrect about the net impact on jobs, the intuition that trade benefits larger firms and drives out smaller (less productive) firms isn’t far from the logic of the latest trade models. Economists, however, think that effect is good!

[HT: Mankiw]