In his latest Slate piece, Daniel Gross concurs with my election week reflection upon the state of trade politics:

Since the elections, concerned internationalists have fretted that the newly Democratic Congress will curtail the nation’s free-trade policies… these arguments overlook or misunderstand the new politics of trade. It’s not a left-right split. Since 2000, Bush Republicans have done as much as Democrats to throw up trade barriers and tariffs. President Bush has generally spoken a good game about free trade, and his administration has concluded bilateral free-trade agreements with Morocco, Australia, Colombia, and several other countries. But just as free trade was a bipartisan project in the 1990s, the backlash to free trade has been bipartisan in this decade. Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., share little in common except their desire to slap huge protective tariffs on Chinese goods. And, all by themselves, the Republicans have done a great deal to damage the cause of free trade in the last several years.

[HT: CGD]