Competitive Enterprise Instit. on the "New Protectionism"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Subject: CEI's C:spin-The New Protectionism
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 11:38:23 -0500
From: "Richard Morrison" <rmorrison () cei org>

CEI C:\Spin



This issue:  The New Protectionism



By Neil Hrab

Warren Brooks Fellow

CEI

1/07/2004



By all indications, 2004 should be a banner year for America’s movie, TV 
show and music producers. DVD players continue to become more popular 
around the world, and this increases chances for consumers everywhere to 
enjoy recordings of American TV programs, rock videos and films. The 
International Recording Media Association projects projects global 
production of DVDs could grow from 2.7 billion discs in 2003 to 7 billion 
discs by 2008. If that forecast holds true, that means that before the 
first decade of the 21st century is up, American movie studios, singers and 
others could be earning as much as $70 billion per year from global DVD 
sales alone.

Most Americans see the billions of dollars in entertainment that the US 
exports each year as a benign form of free exchange. Foreign consumers can 
buy copies of American motion pictures, concerts, etc., and absorb American 
culture without having to leave home. The money they spend supports 
American jobs and bolsters the US’ balance of trade. Everybody wins.

But a growing number of foreign governments, in developed and Third World 
countries alike, don’t see this as a win-win situation. While consumers 
everywhere from Tokyo to Timbuktu may lap up American popular culture, many 
of their rulers and leaders see it as an annoying form of cultural 
pollution. As one former Canadian prime minister put it, “images of America 
are so [globally] pervasive…that it is almost as if instead of the world 
immigrating to America, America has immigrated to the world, allowing 
people to aspire to be Americans even in their distant cultures.” It's hard 
to see the harm in individuals deciding, of their own free will, to adopt 
aspects of American popular culture (fashion, slang, etc.), depending on 
their preferences -- but let that pass for now.

One proposed solution for this alleged American cultural onslaught has 
emerged. Through an inter-governmental body called the International 
Network for Cultural Policy International Network for Cultural Policy 
(INCP). This alliance wants to pass a global treaty that would declare 
“cultural goods and services” to be “distinct” from “ordinary goods and 
services,” with a “specific nature” that must be “respected.” That doesn’t 
sound very threatening, but such a treaty could hurt America’s ability to 
export its cultural products.

Once INCP’s hypothetical treaty is passed, it would guarantee that trade in 
cultural products be exempted from global free trade talks. This, in turn, 
would allow foreign governments to start imposing measures reducing 
consumer access to American entertainment products. (Many American allies 
throughout Europe, as well as Canada and Mexico, already have such measures 
on the books.) The passage of a global cultural protectionist treaty would 
make thus it impossible for the U.S. to press for further liberalization in 
global cultural exports in future trade talks. The treaty would act as a 
shield for protectionist actions wrapped in stealthy rhetoric about 
preserving “cultural diversity.” If all goes according to plan, INCP aims 
to open negotiations on the treaty in March 2004 and secure its adoption no 
later than the autumn of 2005.

The Bush Administration has been quiet about INCP’s quest for global 
cultural protectionism. The longer the U.S. delays its response, the more 
it feeds the cultural protectionist camp’s hope that it can use weight of 
numbers to force Washington to accept its specious arguments. In order to 
cure INCP of this illusion, Washington must commit itself to global free 
trade in cultural and entertainment products, and vow not to support any 
initiative that undermines this goal. Time is running out.



C:\SPIN is produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute



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